nor some ministers...
Sorry about that. I didn't mean to be mean.
I meant it with a little bit of sarcasm, but mostly joking, hence the smiley face.
Peace!
"absolute truth"? How is that different from plain truth?
Imagine you claim to a few people that a very good friend of yours taught you to use peace and love as "weapons" to end some constant battles that happen in your town, in your country. And this love flows from god to humanity.
Now, remember, your listeners are jews.
How many will listen to you and how many will just turn away?
But you want to be listened so you think the best way to make the message stick is if you add a little flourish.... miracles that your friend performed "in plain sight of some 5000 people on one occasion... it was a marriage. He didn't want to, but his mother, that kind, pure soul... purest of purest begged him to perform that miracle."
Now you've got your audience's attention.
Now you can talk about what he really taught you.
Remember that jesus's disciples (in my example, you're one of them!) are always described as simple people, who didn't know much about the world, nor about writing or reading. And they were left in charge of conveying this grand message to as many people as possible. A momentous task which they tried and, eventually, succeeded.
I'm not saying it happened like this, but... if it did, it would have taken a very short time to reach the format which has reached us.
You say god hates liars, but remember that these people were, essentially, jews. Their main rules were the 10 commandments. There's no commandment which states "thou shall not lie". There one that states "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor", but that is (or can be) different.
I'd really like to think that everyone who is a minister, or priest at christian services does speak the complete truth.
But reality is a b.i.t.c.h. There are ministers whose only goal is money. They may even not believe a word of what they say, but they know the people believe it if you say it in a special way. Many, if not most, televangelists are the perfect example of this.
So, yes, it is completely possible that "God's people are lying for His sake"... at least people who claim to be god's people.
Yes, I agree with your word... "Ideology" fits much better than "religion".
I sometimes forget the proper words...
bad wiring in my brain, I guess.
You know why an atheist becomes a more severe opponent?
Because he's appalled at religious people's obsession with one book and one fixed point of view about that book.
And he tries and tries to get those people to see and understand that detail. He points it out to them.... but they still obsess.
And you want to know why atheists hate religion?
Because people who obsess that much about one book and believe what it says are excellent to turn into terrorists... the kind that kill other people(I know islam is more widely viewed as the source of such terrorism, but it's not that uncommon for christians to violently express their views on some aspects of society, like abortions, gays, etc... In the US, some have gone all the way and murdered a doctor which performed abortions). Of course, luckily, only a very small, tiny fraction of believers actually commit such crimes.
Atheists also hate that religion dictates the believers' lives. On most civilized countries, you don't really notice it. there's the occasional person who thinks they should only have sex after getting married, and you have to go to mass every Sunday (curiously, not the Sabbath, Saturday, like it says in the ten commandments... heck, as long as it's one day, every seven, right?). But there are some places where local religious leaders suggest rules which make no sense. In much of south America and Africa, the use of condoms is forbidden by the church. And that is the official position of the catholic church: never use condoms. In their view, a man and a woman only have sex after being married and only with the express purpose of procreating. Of course, if you follow that rule, it doesn't make sense to use the condom. You're actually trying to have kids, not preventing it...
But then reality comes crashing down like the b.i.t.c.h. it is.
People don't have sex just to make babies. They do it to have some fun, enjoy themselves. It's a pleasurable thing. And, knowing you'll get that pleasure, you try to get it as often as possible!
And in those places I mentioned, things are difficult, AIDS and other diseases are rampant because of prostitution is widespread (if your wife doesn't want it, there's a hooker who does and if you beat her, you may get away with not paying for the service).
But then the priests tell the people not to use condoms.... but they can't say it just like that - if you tell me not to do it, I'll do it for sure. They add a little bit of awesome: the latex in the condoms has holes and these holes are enough for HIV to pass through, but not enough for sperm to go through, so why bother using the condom?
In a way, it's true. Latex in condoms does have holes in it's structure. Very small holes, with a size of the order of the virus's. But the virus is in a liquid, mostly composed by water and, I don't know if you've ever tried, but you can fill a condom with air, just like a balloon. Air is essentially Oxygen and Nitrogen, each composed by two atoms, O2 and N2. Now, if two atoms is gaseous form can't escape through those holes, how are the viruses going to escape?
Perhaps the Chruch wants 80% of the african population to die of AIDS. Perhaps that will end a lot of their stupid wars between neighboring tribes. but I don't think that's their goal. The rule that sex is for procreation was meant at europeans, waaaaay back then... and they're enforcing their ideology on a people which is not european, so thinks and behaves differently. They've succeeded in implementing it, but with dangerous consequences.
You see how religion is actually harming people all around the world?
As an atheist, I can't accept the fact that religion enables some people to commit atrocities and stupidities and that's why some atheists speak out and sound angry when they do so.
I don't think there's an atheist actively defending the death of another person.... well, you have abortion, but we like to think that, as long as there's no nervous system, there's no pain and it's just a bunch of cells, like a miniature tadpole.
But there are a lot of religious people who want to kill or harm other people just because they don't believe the same things. I'm not saying it's the majority. Luckily, it's not... at least in this day and age. It's a small minority, but it's all it takes.
Yes, like many ministers don't focus on doing their job, but instead focus on getting money.
And different religious sects which fight each other over which one is correct.... they literally fight. And the Old Testament is a testament that god did this: crush all other belief systems in false gods.
It's half past two here, so some of the things I wrote may not make sense...
I suppose this is too soon to confront you with what Jesus told us about the coming tribulation then. "You can't handle the Truth" 
For a critical thinker, this is something you simply have NOT thought through!
