Ok, I’ll play.
1. Let me reiterate “I don’t believe that Dan Brown ever claimed that the story was true, anymore than the previous 4 authors who wrote a similar story.” That statement in no way conveys anything suggesting that you said I said anything different. Have you ever read the DaVinci Code, or are you just repeating the same ill-informed nonsense that others who haven’t read the book have claimed?
1a. No, they predicate their hatred of us “infidels” on crap written in the Koran that says anyone who isn’t Muslim is an infidel and deserves to be killed if they don’t convert. So, these people start out with closed minds and cannot consider anything else, nor are they able to coexist with those who do not believe exactly as they do. Thus, the wars they initiated against Christianity during the Crusades and the sequel to that that we are witnessing today. So, what Muslims think (assuming that they ever do) is of little or no consequence to me other than the fact that they are fixated on slaughtering as many “infidels” as possible.
2. I don’t know how I can say this more clearly - Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is our Lord and Savior. Jesus is not God, AND the Son of God; they are two distinct individuals in my religious beliefs. YOUR particular branch of Christianity may teach otherwise and that’s ok. All Christians do not necessarily believe exactly alike, that’s why there are so many different branches of Christianity. The difference between us and the Muslims is that we can all coexist peacefully with our different versions of Christianity. Various Muslim sects cannot which is why you see Sunnis, Shiites, Shia and whatever other sects they have all murdering each other in the name of Allah, PLUS each of them committed to slaughtering as many Christians and Jews as possible. Christians accept that God made room His kingdom for all of us regardless of our specific religious beliefs. Muslims have NO such belief and desire only to conquer (or kill) all of us and enslave us to the rantings of a psychotic 6th century pedophile.
to your point 1a --> I did not say this was the root cause, I only pointed out that this reinforced it -- and the Moslems I know who have read this are what you could call 'open to influence' Moslems -- those who were genuinely interested in Christianity etc. and unfortunately found this book
to your point 2 Jesus is not God, AND the Son of God; they are two distinct individuals in my religious beliefs. -- That is what I wanted to know, thank you for confirming it.