I would like to present a relevant verse from a poem, "Bhaja Govindam" by Adi Shankaracharya, which calls people to seek God and overcome the various obstacles on their spiritual path - verse 14:

"One ascetic with matted hair, one with shaven head, one with hair plucked out one by one, one in ocre robes – all these are distracted ones who, though seeing, do not see. These different disguises are only for their living [belly]."
http://ahambrahmasmi4.wordpress.com/2016/09/28/bhajagovindamverse14/

(that page contains in-depth commentary, which I therefore need not repeat here; and the full poem can be found in http://www.shankaracharya.org/bhaja_govindam.php)

Buddha also said:
“A man becomes not a Brahmin by matted hair or family of birth. The man in whom there is truth and holiness, he is in joy and he is a Brahmin. (Dhammapada 393)

Of what is the use of matted hair, foolish man, of what use your antelope garment, if within you have tangled cravings and without ascetic ornaments? (Dhammapada 394)”.
http://www.speakingtree.in/blog/matted-locks-shaven-head-four-leaders-criticism

In other words, nothing is new about people who use external appearances to show off as being religious for the sake of material gain.

Presenting oneself or one's movement as religious does not mean that one or one's movement are indeed religious.

Taking the example of Christianity:
Presenting oneself as a follower of Jesus Christ does not mean that one indeed follows Jesus Christ.
Presenting Christianity as a religion does not mean that Christianity is indeed a religion.
The presence of a verse in the Bible does not mean that it indeed was divinely inspired.

I believe that many people, at one time or another in their lives, do use Christianity as their religion, yet there are also others, and even the same people at other times, who use Christianity for other, improper and potentially dangerous, purposes, which should never be confused with religion.

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Dear David F.,

«Jesus in the above is intolerant of those who don't follow him. He breeds hate.»

Assuming that Jesus actually said the above and that the quotes are accurate and not out of context.
There's every chance it was otherwise.

Dear Yuyutsu,

I wrote 'attributed to Jesus'. That doesn't mean he said it or that he even existed.

David f,
Jesus just stated the obvious, it is not hate speech. You are opposed to me, but I would not consider your opposition to me as hate speech. You do not follow my views, so you are not supporting me. Get it?

Dear Josephus,

Any kind of communication that may do harm, that
attacks, demeans, or uses pejorative or discriminatory
language with references to a person or group on the
basis of who they are is considered as hate speech.
That is what you consistently do towards our First
Nations people all because of their Voice to Parliament?

And you a self-proclaimed Christian trying to influence
others?

I doubt if you will ever get it!

Dear Josephus,

I am not opposed to you. You can believe whatever nonsense you like, and I am free to think of it as nonsense. You are free to think of what I believe as nonsense. That does not mean I am against you. I am just not with you. The problem is that some do not accept it when others do not hold their beliefs. They send out missionaries. They penalise people for expressing or holding different beliefs.

We don't know what Jesus said or even whether there was a Jesus. I believe the Bible is mostly fiction. I don't think it is the word of God since I don't think there is a God. However, you probably think there is one. My opinion is that God is a human invention as is Zeus, Apollo and Thor.

I do know that Christianity has a horrible history of intolerance. Early Christians were persecuted. However, Christians have been more persecutors than persecutees.

In 1971, Christians represented 86.2% of the Australian population. In 2021, Christians were down to 43.9% of the population. As ancient people gave up polytheism, modern people are giving up Christianity.

I hope they will also give up hate. That is probably too much to hope for.

Posted by Josephus

Jesus just stated the obvious, it is not hate speech. You are opposed to me, but I would not consider your opposition to me as hate speech. You do not follow my views, so you are not supporting me. Get it?

Answer- Kudos Josephus. Point of view often bites one in the a**e.