I feel like this response was directed at me, so I'll respond.
1.) Living in Kansas is much better than living in the places I think you are referring to.
2.) The fact that those places have less freedom then Kansas has nothing to do with policies in the state of Kansas, or how the state should be ran. It's an irrelevent statement. It's the same thing as someone telling you about their day and when mentioning they got a flat tire, responding by saying "you know, children are brutally murdered everyday."

+1.

Religion is an excuse to be inhumane and do things that you might otherwise find inexcusable. This is not to say that it is the only excuse. And this is not to say that it isn't also an excuse to do nice things. But why have it at all? If a.) there is not evidence that it is actually true, i.e. the magical / supernatural / worship / pray etc. junk, and b.) you can do good things without it, then why allow it to cloak bad deeds?

Take responsibility for yourself; if you do good, take credit for it! Don't do it for the greater glory of god. If you do bad, take credit for it! Forgive yourself, don't forgive yourself, move on, don't move on; its up to you. But inventing a father figure to officially give you a hug and a pat on the back is childish.

A Dallas man was just given the right to slaughter animals in his home by a federal appeals court. Because it is part of his religion. Well, either slaughtering animals in residential neighborhoods is okay, or it isn't. I don't care if it is his religion. If he wants to kill animals, it doesn't matter one iota that he cloaks it in priestly rights.

All that anyone can ever say about their religious beliefs is that they are't just speaking for them self, they are also speaking from the voice of authority; they are speaking from god!! "Oh no, I'm not calling you a fool; the bible merely says that a fool will scoff, just as you are scoffing."

If you can't say it from your own mouth, if you can't stomach it on your conscience for the rest of your life, maybe you shouldn't say it or do it.

Serious response: The following comes from this website:http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/swordverse.htm . Please correct me if this isn't an accurate reproduction of the original text. But from my eyes it doesn't look good for your argument.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81dBDsUZ9QM&feature=sub

There's a lot of bad sources and false sites out there, like a lot of things online so beware. That's one of them. Just remember that anything taken out of context can be easily misconstrued, but you're intelligent enough to already know that.

If you're serious about clearing up any misunderstandings, I'd recommend you visit a scholar with your queries, should there be a community where you live. And if there isn't, send me your questions and I'll do it for you. Unfortunately, I'm not very well versed, so I'm afraid I can't offer an expert opinion. I wish I could have been more helpful. Perhaps that's enough of a sign for me to learn more about my own religion. lol..

are you saying someone registered (and is paying for) answering-islam.org only to post unauthentic passages? i admit it's possible, but i mean...

either way, another site (3rd hit on google for 'quran sura 9') pretty much echoes 9:5 and 9:8:

http://www.muslimaccess.com/quraan/arabic/009.asp

i suppose just picking up an actual copy of the quran and verifying this would remove your skepticism, or are you afraid of printed works being forgeries also?

And perhaps more importantly, anything can mean anything, as long as you claim the veto power on "context." Seeing a scholar for his opinion might (stress might) be better than just reading the first google hit you get, but there is some pretty absurd selection bias going on re: religious scholars, for obvious reasons. You are probably better off reading until you get bored and then forming your own conclusions.

Nice link.

To answer the OP directly, I think we should note that this is an internet forum that people go to becaue the find the topic interesting and allocate some of their leisure time (or in my case work procrastination time) to these interesting topics. This goes for any forum.

I highly doubt most of these people are out in the real world trying to unconvert christians. People go to this forum particular to have these types of debates.

Well for me, I don't much care whether people believe in God or not, but I am curious about what they believe and why they believe what they do - and I do care about what actions they take based on those beliefs that may affect my life. I am not certain that there is no God - I am simply not convinced that there is a God. But there was a time when I did believe. And I enjoy reading the wide range of opinions and attitudes about the subject.

So for the most part, I don't care whether people believe in God, I am not certain there is no God, I am not wasting time, I am not arguing with fools, and I am enjoying my life immensely. But other than that, your post was spot on. Are you psychic?

How many atheists go door knocking spreading the "word"?

Wow. I read through the first two pages. It made my brain hurt. It was like watching people argue with walls. Actually, "like" may be too weak of a word.

Then it hit me.

OP's op answered.

I would care if anyone religious had ever been convinced of anything. Arguing with someone who refuses to listen and learn from others isn't fun.

The vast majority of atheists really don't care.

Because God ruthlessly haunts.