Whoa! This is something that probably deserves it's own thread.
Religion doesn't alter your personality I disagree.
Your personality alters religion I agree.
Religion itself can't really alter anything. It just is a set of concepts/beliefs that one subscribes to or not. A person interprets the meanings of these concepts based on their inherent personality traits which exist independent of religion.
For example: A person who is stubborn and believes that anything that they feel is right and everyone else is wrong will be that way no matter what the specific thing they believe is.
In the described scenario, this is what we see. A guy who thinks his views are right and all others are wrong simply because he holds them. It wouldn't matter if he was an atheist, Taoist, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, or toilet worshiper. He's going to be a stubborn jackass in any scenario. The specifics are irrelevant.
The traits inherent in the person will dictate how they approach their religion. I can't even imagine a scenario where someone's personality is honestly altered because of the beliefs they hold, because to even begin holding the beliefs, there must be something within their personality that dictates it as a possibility.
For example: Someone joins one of those crazy Heaven's Gate type of cults. The cult doesn't change their personality. It is in fact their personality, specifically their suggestibility and a desire to feel like they belong to something "greater" than themselves that makes it possible for them to become a member. All subsequent actions are just facets of this pre-existing personality trait. There me an apparent shift in personality, but it's just an extant personality trait being thrust out front.
No religion can possibly cause someone to have a new personality trait that they never had prior to entering that religion. Not everyone has the same personality traits.
The proof of this is the cases where people are "born" into cults. They are taught the same things as everyone else, but they do what they can to leave at the first opportunity. This is because these people lack the personality traits necessary to fall into the cult's line of thinking.
The fact that I feel this way is the reason why religion means nothing in regards to my vote. If I hear that a politician is a practicing baptist I know nothing of them or their personality traits based on that alone.
How they
practice their religion may affect my vote. If they go around protesting soldiers funerals with "God hates fags" signs, they will lose my vote automatically. An Atheist who went to church gatherings with a "There is no God" sign would also lose my vote. To me, the atheist and the baptist would have the same personality traits that I abhor. Their religious affiliation does not dictate these behaviors.
Going back to the example that was given by Obvious Child, if the person in question was an anti-theist who called any atheists who weren't militant anti-theists "Jesus-freaks" or "Bible-thumpers", I would have the same feelings as I would for the guy who calls any other from of Christianity "atheism". To me, they are the same person, with the same personality traits.