The misunderstanding and misinterpretation here actually is very old , starting with the romans who reluctantly accepted Christianity after centuries of persecuting it, due to the conversion of Constantine.
In the first council of Nicaea, organized by Constantine, Christian teachings were codified into a standard version , edited to suit the conditioned sensibilities of the Romans. This was then enforced on the rest of Christendom and all variations and views of it, such as those of Arius and Origen, were not tolerated.
The romans , though having expertise in administration and warfare, were not able to comprehend the philosophical basis of Jesus’s teachings, interpreted them as per their own conditioned viewpoints about religion, and rigorously edited the teachings to conform to it.
Thus Christianity at present, is not the original teachings as Christ taught , but the interpretation of it by the Romans as per their intrinsic conditioned nature.
Inquisitions, witch burnings and crusades, if you look into it, clearly are quite contrary to the teachings of Christ, and stem from elements of roman imperialist conditioning sewed into the standardized version of Christianity we have now, which are as barbaric as the practice of crucifixion itself which Jesus was subjected to.
Thus a study of Christianity and the bible ought to be conducted prudently, so as to understand its essentials without being carried away by literalist interpretations.