And abt violence: i think every religion has ppl that were violent. I dont know if it is bc of those ppl and that they are just saying or that they believe that the religion says that. Or that the religion really allows it. I am not sure so i cant say anything abt that for ANY religion. I know that what we believe of Buddhism is that violence is NOT ok. And if others say that abt their religion i believe that.
Have to agree about this: in every religion, there are people who are violent and are only using their religion as a blunt-force instrument against other people. That's not ok. But at the same time, I can find concord with anyone who uses their religion (or humanist atheism for that matter) to try and make themselves a better person.
No religion is uniform with followers who are clones of each other. In every religion, there are different kinds of branches. The militant branches in every religion tend to be full of horrible human beings and at the same time, the peaceful, loving branches of each religion are full of people, who, while imperfect and stumbling, still try to do good things and be good people. In either case, I don't care what your religion is, I just care if you are using it to be a better person or to hit people who are already hurting.