I think some of it has to do with the fact that they're such a comfortable majority that it's easy to assume that everyone else is going to feel the way that they do.

I've had some long debates with Christian friends on the subject. I agree with you; I do think that Christians, especially white Christians, are a very comfortable majority in this country. But some of my Christian friends would not agree. They would argue that real Christians are a minority. To say this, they define "Christians" not as "the default religious option in America" but as "people who are truly committed to their faith and living a religious lifestyle."

If you go by their definition, there are probably far fewer Christians in the country that one might assume. But that's still a sizeable minority that includes both the nutjobs and the more rational people of faith.

The thing is that there are nutjobs in the more conservative branches of all three monotheistic faiths. There are nutjob Christians, nutjob Jews, and nutjob Muslims. The nutjob Jews mostly bother liberal Jews, so you don't hear much about them, and they're not massively aggressive even then. The nutjob Muslims tend not to be the ones living in America. But America is the world stronghold for nutjob Christianity. It's also a religion that encourages proseletyzing, so that it's pretty easy for the committed ones to get aggressive. Therefore, you notice them more.

But that's not all Christians. It's just the nutjobs, and they happen to be the loudest.

Were you brought up Christian? I know you're not Christian now, but was that part of your childhood?