CS, these topics are relevant to discussions about these topics. Occasionally they become relevant to other discussions. These are important topics that ought to be discussed. But when they are thrown in the face the Christians in every single thread about religion or atheism, it starts to look like someone is changing the subject in order to conduct an attack. How do these topics relate to a discussion of someone's faith? How do they relate to a discussion of whether or not atheism is a belief system? Why should perfectly normal people who happen to be Christians have to answer for the crimes of other people? And yes, it really does appear that some people think the Christians should answer for them. They act like by bringing up the Spanish Inquisition they have scored some point against the religious folks, like these crimes are relevant to any and all religious discussions. From a purely selfish standpoint, I get tired of trying to have conversations when other people are lobbing bombs into them. It makes the conversation a good deal less meaningful and fun, and distracts everyone from the subject at hand.

Yes, I was essentially saying that "bringing all the incredibly bad things that religion has caused into every discussion about religion is not only rude, but really stupid." Save it for when it means something. And don't attack people simply for being Christian.