Specifically, Christians often say that they are to emulate to life and teachings of Jesus, who in every canonical gospel account consistently behaved with the utmost respect and tolerance for difference — Even toward people who were supposed to be religiously anathema to him.

I'm often astonished by how different modern conservative Christians are from the Jesus of the New Testament. It's like they read the stories, because we know they do read them, but somehow manage to disregard the central theme of the stories.