Islam, Muslim / Christian Forum - Welcome All

As both islam and christians have pointed out, both here, and elsewhere, there are plenty of examples of violence and evil acts carried out in the name of islam

And, likewise, there are plenty of examples of violence and evil carried out in the name of christianity.

As a christian i feel that there are numerous events throughout Christian history where evil things have been done, supposedly in the name of god.  Things which I am sure actually grieved god more than we are able to understand. (The inquisition for example....there was some siiiick stuff happenin there in gods name. Stuff I am sure horrified god!)

I have had muslim friends who expressed similar feelings about terrorist acts which have been carried out in the name of Islam.  I remember thinking after one terrorist attack, that it was a muslim friend who'se comments were far more scathing and angry than anything any westerners or christians said about the event. He said he hated it because he believed that the terrorists were perverting the true ideals of islam, and also he hated the fact that many westerners mistakenly thought all muslims shared the beliefs of the terrorists.

I guess what i am trying to say is, that, if we put aside for a moment the whose religion is wrong and whose is right, maybe we can all, whether muslim or christian, acknowledge, that within BOTH of our faiths, there are, and probably always will be, sadly, groups of people who are going to commit terrible deeds and say they are doing so in the name of the faith and the god we worship.

So anyway, I was hoping to get some thoughts from others from both faiths about this?  People who like me, feel that when groups of people commit violent acts like mass murder, in the name of your god, your church or your faith, that those people are either deliberately perverting the true message of your faith, or who are being deceived and carrying out terrible acts thinking god wants them to, when actually god is grieved and heartbroken by what they do...

how do you feel about current or historical violence that has been committe by people who have claimed they did so in the name of god or the church?

For example, are you angry that those people are giving the world in general a perception of your faith that you feel is very wrong?
Or do you feel sad for those people because they may honestly believe they are doing gods will, when actually they are being deceived?

If we look through the books of BOTH christianity and islam, we can find passages that appear to blatantly preach violence, and passages that clearly beseech followers to promote peace.  And we can argue different points back and forth.

As a christian I have seen how easily the bible can be misinterpreted if a person reads a single passage by itself with no context, or no understanding of the cultural  and political environment the events written of, occured in, and most importantly, no guidance by the holy spirit, then there are many passages which could be misinterpreted in massive ways.
So i am going to assume that the q'uran has passages which could be misinterpreted by a christian or other non muslim person reading out of context with no guidance from an Iman etc, in equally disastrous ways?

So that brings me to another question... Again for either muslims or christians... Why you think there are passages within your holy book which seem to be so easily misintepreted as promoting messages of hate or violence that may not actually be the message of the faith?

Why is it that for a people who should be setting an example of peace,who should be showing and sharing the love of god, in both religions, there have been so many examples of violence, intolerance and hatred happening instead?

And what is the answer.  Some christians and muslims can get along fine or even become close friends, why can others not?

Thoughts?