Yeah, you don't choose the religion you're born into and even if you disagree with a religion, there's no need to be so deeply offensive. If someone attacks your beliefs in such an outrageously offensive manner as has been displayed in this thread, you're more likely to believe it more rather than change your mind. This type of thing only polarizes opinion further and creates bad feeling.
Yes I agree completely. Even though I don't exactly agree with everything Islam represents, I am not going to go around hassling it because If I had been born there I would be a Muslim too.

Anyway, whether you hate them or not they aren't going any where any time soon...

I saw an interesting piece on the BBC news yesterday (the BBC was criticised a couple of years ago, by the way, for being too pro-Israel), about how it is not the Jewish lobby in America that drives the country's support for Israel, it is in fact crazy evangelical Christians who believe in something called "End time theology". Basically in the Bible it says for Jesus to return to Earth the Jews must be gathered in Israel, and also that when he returns he will judge the gentiles (non-Jews) treatment of the Jews. Thus, these evangelical Christians (who there are a lot of, and in very high places) are very pro-Israel. Couple with that they are likely to be very pro-American and therefore hate Muslims because of 9/11.
This seems to me to be just as twisted as some of the Islamic beliefs. Would these people be willing to finance the killing of innocent civilians just so their prophecy might come true? Just like the Lebanese government harbours terrorists so they can wipe out the Jews or whatever.