Extremist religions are in all corners of the globe. How tolerant are the neo-cons? The Catholics? The Satan worshippers?

Intolerance is certainly a natural outcome of organized religion yet most forms of intolerance manifest themselves in much more benign outlets (although exception occur as exemplified in certain religious hate groups here and abroad). One small correction, I don't think neocons can be considered religious in nature though many do lean towards a more rigid religious dogma. And Satan worshipers? The religious rights statistics set aside, I don't think that the few that there are really make much of a difference. Unless you want to group Christians into that ...

Extremist religions are in all corners of the globe. How tolerant are the neo-cons? The Catholics? The Satan worshippers?

Intolerance is certainly a natural outcome of organized religion yet most forms of intolerance manifest themselves in much more benign outlets (although exception occur as exemplified in certain religious hate groups here and abroad). One small correction, I don't think neocons can be considered religious in nature though many do lean towards a more rigid religious dogma. And Satan worshipers? The religious rights statistics set aside, I don't think that the few that there are really make much of a difference. Unless you want to group Christians into that category as many self-professed Christians seem to believe that anyone not holding their beliefs must be under the spell of the Dark One.

The Muslim leaders have the advantage of working with populations denied education, as do other religions.

I used to believe this until we increasingly began hearing of suicide bombers holding advanced degrees and from well to do families.

I do subscribe to the notion that religion has found over the centuries that an uneducated, poor and often suppressed population is easy pickings to be indoctrinated into their belief system. As the system matures though and the meme is handed down through generations, there developes a hiearchy of leadership within the followers which reflects the spectrum of the population as a whole.

Which people do the missionaries work with? People denied education -
missionaries fill in with their distorted facts as education.

Agreed. And like all good propagandists, their "story" holds enough truth in it to gain a certain amount of credence.

Not every missionary is hell bent on indoctrinating and propaganda, some simply want to help.

I'm sure that's true. Yet it doesn't change the fact that the most emphasis used by Organized Religion (the institutions) is on lower socio-economic segments of the population. In other words, that's where they get the most bank for the buck.

Not all religions want to kill non-believers. Not all religions tell
its believers that if a person can't be converted into islam, that they
are to be killed. Islam is the only religion that I know of that does
that.

These days that appears to be the case but we can't simply brush aside the entire history of religion and ignore...

Not every missionary is hell bent on indoctrinating and propaganda, some simply want to help.

I'm sure that's true. Yet it doesn't change the fact that the most emphasis used by Organized Religion (the institutions) is on lower socio-economic segments of the population. In other words, that's where they get the most bank for the buck.

Not all religions want to kill non-believers. Not all religions tell
its believers that if a person can't be converted into islam, that they
are to be killed. Islam is the only religion that I know of that does
that.

These days that appears to be the case but we can't simply brush aside the entire history of religion and ignore the great harm and genocide that have been done in the name of God. Other factors naturally are present yet religion is the glue that holds it all together and is the motivating factor for true atrocities to occur. Religion is the divine wedge that is able to divide people and set them against one another with enough zeal and passion to slaughter entire populations because they hold differing beliefs.

Perhaps, if we survive long enough, organized religion will begin to lose much of its power to inflame and divide. Christianity as practiced here in the US seems to be on this track.

If you want to display your ignorance of history then be my guest.
Google the name "Cortez", you'll notice that he wasn't a missionary.

True. Yet even if the main reason for his mission was the search for land and treasure, his benefactors were at the same time interested in spreading Christianity to the "savages" they encountered. In fact, much of the capital for these enterprises came from the Church to benefit it's coffers. And while Cortez's role may not have been solely religious in nature, religion was enmeshed so in the fabric of this endeavor as to be difficult to untangle.

That's the only point I was making, it seems a shame to me that the
ones who do good are...

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If you want to display your ignorance of history then be my guest.
Google the name "Cortez", you'll notice that he wasn't a missionary.

True. Yet even if the main reason for his mission was the search for land and treasure, his benefactors were at the same time interested in spreading Christianity to the "savages" they encountered. In fact, much of the capital for these enterprises came from the Church to benefit it's coffers. And while Cortez's role may not have been solely religious in nature, religion was enmeshed so in the fabric of this endeavor as to be difficult to untangle.

That's the only point I was making, it seems a shame to me that the
ones who do good are given a bad reputation because of what others are
doing.

I suspect this is not going to change. Compare this to the present situation in the Middle East. The vast majority of ordinary people living there are not terrorists. This doesn't prevent them from being painted with the stigma of those who are at the extreme.

And as far as Christianity is concerned, while I personally have views opposing it, I grant that over the centuries it has changed to more closely accommodate an evolving culture. That perhaps is one of the reasons for its longevity. But its relatively recent history is rife with violence and to deny that is to ignore historical fact.