[Mnemosyne]

That leads to my next question, which is why do people become so defensive about their religion?

I always thought that the purpose of religion was to promote truth, love, forgiveness, etc.

But I must be missing something, because if what I thought was actually correct, then there wouldn't be a need to become so defensive about one's religion.

I think that's what I'm really trying to figure out.

Durring some research I read an article that described Hinduism. The article acknowledged that there are many branches of faith within the Hindu religion. According to the article, the particular branch of faith a Hindu subscribes to isn't important. What's important is that they are faithful, because all paths lead to the same destination.

That's what I thought about religion in general. If all paths lead to the same destination, what difference does it make if a person believed in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Wicca, etc...? If all paths lead to the same destination, why would some people want to convert others to their religion? If all paths lead to the same destination, why do some people consider their religion superior to other religions?