Ignorance.

Since I was 16 my major interest is how people think/feel/believe. As a result I studied psychology and worked with developmentally disabled and mentally ill people. Part of this was for self-preservation, I started off with wanting to know how people could be happy, and how to avoid being as unhappy as I perceived my father to be, while fully aware that of all the people in the world he is the person I am most like in terms of natural tendencies. I still find myself thinking in ways unique to my father, still find myself going through little mindless habits or idiosyncracies that are also his. While typing this I can almost see the hands of my father doing the same task, with the staccatto rhythm that he has, the small bursts of extreme energy followed by a tugging on my/his lip o stimulate the next thought.
At a time of impending personal crisis (faithless women and fickle friends) I then broadened this interest into religion and spirituality. I had been almost entirely devoid of spirituality or religion in a personal sense (I have sat through innumerable Church of England services, the sound of drudgery is an english congregation singing a hymn) and I thought that this massive area of human thought worth looking into. So I read works on religion, mostly eastern religion. I meditated, and I experienced a change in my person as a result which stopped oncoming depression. I even had the enlightenment experience, which as far as I can tell is the same thing that those who are born again in christianity experience.
Anyway, since then I have been interested in religion, and I go onto an internet forum to discuss religion. It has been an extremely interesting and useful experience. I now know far more than I would have expected about how people become religious, how they experience reliion, how it colors and effects people's lives.
One of the things that I have found out is how extraordinarily ignorant many people are about their own religion, many christians have almost no idea what Jesus said, and of all the great religions in the world finding out what the purported originator of christianity actually said is by far the easiest, as there are only a few hundred words.
The two most egregious examples I have found recently are: the belief that Jesus was not a pacifist despite him saying, "Blessed are the peacemakers. But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also" and the belief that Jesus was not against material things despite saying, 22When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still need to do one thing. Sell everything you have and give the money[p] to the destitute, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come back and follow me." and, "And he called unto him the twelve...And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse: But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.

But then 20% of people in the USA and UK still think the sun goes around the earth. This is a useful statistic whenever you think that nobody could be that stupid, no matter how stupid 20% of people can manage it.