I don't think it lets my argument down [Edit: ah, I see you've just edited your post], really, but perhaps I should elaborate from a more personal point of view. A little on the rare side for me! A tangential post, sorry, but it might help to see why I react the way I do (?).
"On the ground," I see people of different religious groups working together, organized visits to places of worship associated with other religions, joint religious meetings in the interest of furthering understanding, and people of different religions generally being peaceful, tolerant, and working to try to better their environment. This has included Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Baha'is, Buddhists, and more. I do not see religious people as being a dangerous, unthinking sheep, while atheists are the ones who are thoughtful and are standing up to better the world. The world is not black and white. For instance, when there are nearly two billion people who are Christian and over one billion people who are Muslim, how could any thinking person start to talk in terms of people within one category (i.e. approximately billions of them) being the same? While I'm not regularly witnessing it, I don't doubt that religious people can and do stir up trouble, but... we're all human and people of all walks of life will cause conflict (intentionally or unintentionally) through differences of their beliefs, whether religious, political, sporting, or whatever.
On the flip side... I have not-infrequently seen and heard of places of worship being vandalized. Before anyone says this must surely be mindless vandalism, it has included graffiti that was clearly atheist, targeted, and educated (not simply thuggery). In the area where I live, church-goers have been attacked and potentially attend church under threat of violence. A friend who has recently become a vicar tells of how there is debate within the church about whether the traditional "dog-collars" should still be worn by vicars when in public, due to the increasing, targeted violence towards them. I also remember a new vicar coming to a church and having to have a police escort when he arrived. On a regular basis (not quite daily, but more than weekly), I receive mocking comments about religion, many of which are very insulting. A local atheist group has been putting up some quite offensive posters on a place of worship, too. An aggressive act, surely. To cap it off, I then hear some people talking about religion being the root of evil and how we'd be better off if we eradicated religion from the face of the planet. Worrying language, from my point of view...
As a sort of summary, I basically see religious people, on the whole, quietly working to better themselves and improve their environment, but I encounter frequent and unprovoked antagonism in daily life, which has been led by non-religious people. Some more threatening events than others. Irony of the situation? (Note: to make sure there is no misunderstanding, this absolutely does not mean I believe atheism leads to being a bad person or that all atheists are the same! I want to make that extremely clear.) For this reason, I know the subject is a sensitive one for me and I have very little patience. If I'm blunt, I feel people should know better, especially in a day and age when we are taught to be wary of stereotypes and the dangers they pose. Plenty of information is out there, there is no excuse for tarring 80-90% (off the top of my head) of the world's population with the same brush.
I don't mean to rant, and I'm not getting at you, Rhisiart. Honestly. Basically, the reason I back away is not cowardice or laziness but because it is a sensitive subject, and I prefer to take a deep breath and stand back, rather than risk becoming very angry. It's an act of restraint.
Slightly more on topic... Would any text, ever written, not be interpretted in different ways if presented to, say, one billion readers from different locations? I can imagine that no matter how black-and-white a document might seem at first, the context, cultural differences, language differences, differences in era, and more will always result in differences of opinion.
