I usually agree with Dan but that's a huge miss on his part. I'm what I call a Radical Christian, but that's because "originalist" isn't catchy enough. I often write a lot here on Medium about how atheists are sort of the new moral center because they're outraged over Christian hypocrisy.
As an originalist/radical Christian my belief is that the essence of Jesus's teaching, love and forgiveness, was largely eliminated by male scribes, who were determined to assist male clerics to accumulate power. Women, who were the center of the early church and, often, clerics, were chased out. The Old Testament was intended to be rejected as a literal message from God. It's just a bunch of mythological tales to justify various behaviors. Much of the New Testament was altered, too, in my opinion. It's not hard to detect when you look at the various inconsistencies in Paul's writing (his proclamation that women should be silenced in church compared with the actual truth that he welcomed many female clerics into his inner circle, for example).
Dan would have been better off quoting Isaac Asimov's Guide to the Bible, which correctly describes the motivations for books like Joshua as an effort by clerics and their scribes to seize control of the politics of that era. That era wasn't much different than today: clerics trying to gain control of the political structure. The people of that era justified their invasions and slaughters by invoking God. Just like people are doing today in Gaza.
Unfortunately, almost all religions are blessed with this tendency There is no racial component to this. It's sort of a universal feature of religion. Right now, there is a massive civil war in Sudan involving genocide that is leaving the city of Khartoum empty. The origins of that conflict is over the nature of God, even if one can argue that it has taken on additional motivations (such as ethnic-based revenge).
The Old Testament is mythology. It has no more relevance to real human history than the old Edith Hamilton books I had to read in high school. No benevolent God would order his people to slaughter innocent people, or even, in my opinion, go to war at all. Jesus was about forgiveness. In fact, he said to turn the other cheek when attacked. Any other interpretation made by Christian clerics should be discarded as the nonsense it is.
I'm not an evangelist by any means, even if I sound like one. If atheism takes you to your comfort zone and safe spot, then my version of God welcomes that, and appreciates you calling out the hypocrisies and hate you discover in Christian teaching.
One of my favorite short films is a look at God from the perspective you are writing about here. It's made by the guy who made District 9. I think you'll like it (it's only about 3 minutes):
