Akenaton wrote
"Christianity, except for a few idiots is a tolerant religion.
Islam, as practiced in North Africa and the Middle East is extremely intolerant, to the point of madness."

If you put, "Islam, except for a few idiots is a tolerant religion" or pointed out that Christianity as practiced in a few churches in The USA is extremely intolerant to the point of madness, I may have accepted your comments at face value.

Methinks "as practiced" is the key to it all. I have friends and colleagues who are Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindu and like me, totally without any religious belief.

We all get on with each other. At a BBQ my wife and I put on for friends last year, I had my main BBQ and two small ones. One for cooking veggie kebabs, mushrooms etc and other other small one for friends who brought their own lamb and chicken. It cooked both halal and kosher that day.

I have been given a copy of the Q'ran as a present, and we still have my wife's bible she was given by her parents when a child. They sit side by side in a book case. Ok, never opened, never read, but their value is that of a gift. Her brother, who is a devout Christian, (whatever that means) said it was wrong to put them together and we should get rid of The Q'ran.

And that sums up for me why I have no religious conviction whatsoever. Our friend Yasim was not trying to convert us, (how can you convert if you don't belong to a previous club?) but offering something from his culture as a gift to us. If a Christian friend gave us a bible, it would sit in the same place. Never opened, but as a reminder when you glance of the fact we have friends who gave us a gift.

That for me sums up the mainstream of most people who profess a faith. Those on the fringes are using rather than professing their religion. The ignorant masses who are rioting are showing their lack of access to education rather than making a value stance.