Tough question.
In the Bible, there's loads of stuff that contradicts the other stuff. Homosexuality is "detestable", and the homosexuals involved will "surely be put to death" - yet everyone should love each other. It doesn't really make any sense as a whole, so people start digging into their own interpretations of it.
Furthermore, unlike the Qur'an the Bible is not believed to be the exact or direct word of God, so it could be subject to human error.
This leaves many Christians believing in one side of Christianity and that they are "true" Christians, while the others believe in the opposite side and that they are "true" Christians. When people can believe in a wide variety of different things and still be regarded as Christian, the whole point of being Christian starts to fade away, and there's no clear line for whether the religion is right or wrong.
Therefore, I'd say that I don't hate Christians, because even within their own religion they have some of the freedoms with their beliefs on social issues that atheists enjoy.
However, I feel that many of these Christians are not sure of what parts of the Bible they're believing in, and get a bit muddled up. They believe in God, and culturally that makes them feel that they are Christians. In the same way, a person who grows up in a Muslim family and believes in God feels that they are a Muslim.
I would rather that these people simply said that they are theists, but this is not an objection to what they actually believe, rather to how they express it.
I identify as a Christian and I agree with your argument here. While I am in no way as religious as other, perhaps "true", Christians might be, I do at the very least hold the basic Christian values and traditions. In a way, it could be said that I am more of a cultural Christian than a religious one. There are definitely Christian people out there that go overboard and try to impose their beliefs in an ultimatum manner to others-- that is something I wholeheartedly disagree with and believe to be wrong. Even if changing other people's values were the final objective, the way that I see it being done--forcing it down people's throats--is very counter-productive since it just increases the friction that the person might hold against Christianity. There are definitely many different viewpoints even among Christians, and I assume the same for other religions, which is why stereotypes and generalizations are mostly wrong.
If so, why?
Yup... a lot of Christians have told me that I will go to hell if I don't adhere to Christianity (I don't believe in god, but I identify myself as a Hindu). I have faced a lot of discrimination from the Christians, despite living in an overwhelmingly Hindu-majority nation. These people are forcibly converting poor Hindus by threatening to throw their children out of schools if they don't convert (most of the schools in my area are run by the churches).
Friend of multiple Hindus here. While the topic does not often come into conversation, the few times we have spoken about religion, both sides have been open about it. As long as everyone stays respectful about the other's beliefs, there should be no conflict. Now, what you describe is something I have seen before, albeit I have not been a part of it myself. Some Christians might just want to go all the way into bashing other religions, but not all Christians are like that. As for me, for example, I believe that what these Christians have told you about going to hell if you are not a Christian is completely wrong. It feels as if these were Christian extremists.
