Fun one to share for you all:
I recently go on a religious friend's nerves. They had been spouting about love the sinner but hate the sin thing. I tried a new tactic "love the believer, hate the belief." Suddenly, they don't go around saying that around me anymore, it's like they suddenly realized it is an underhanded way of saying they hate the sinner or something. (stolen from a friend, shamelessly of course, for your entertainment).
I just posted a meme about that before reading your post. Yeah boy, they hate it when it’s turned around on them!!!
Contradiction yes, they may think your condescending. You can't win an argument with them. I may prefer peace, if they have no brain they have no pain.