Why people are distrustful of a religion and people they know very little about?

People don't have any knowledge of Islam. So, anytime any extremist activity happens, media takes the issue of "Jihad" and defames Islam. People, due to lack of knowledge about Islam, think Islam is only about killing but they don't know Islam says "Killing a man is killing the whole humanity". Indeed, Islam itself means "Peace".

Its a religion of love but it only opposes unrighteousness. But still, people tend to fear what they do not understand. Indians, for the most part, have been brought up in a Hindu society. They might not agree with it, but they are familiar with it and thus tend not to feel threatened by it. Because Islam is still a minority religion in India and has had little positive public exposure, India have built up a strong distrust of it.

Each time a terrorist commits a suicide bombing in a hospital, or a religious cleric issues a fatwa against Vandemataram, another Indian grows weary of Islam and Muslims. Those familiar with Islam understand that these acts are not representative of the religion and shouldn’t be associated with mainstream Islam. Reporting the acts of a handful of radical Muslims as if they are accurate portrayals of Islam would be akin to intimating that every Swami involved in a scandal accurately represented Hinduism. So, I think every individual should have knowledge of other religions and not jump to conclusions and should not get misguided by the media and other things.

One other reason is existence of fraudulent gurus who cheat you in the name of yoga, infinite intelligence, meditation. They acquire riches, political clout and use it to further their empire. They even become educationalists by starting colleges and universities. They are very marginal, not away from any of the mundane human weaknesses. Their attitude towards women and womanhood is highly questionable. Regarding being distrustful about religion is due to effect of black swan effect ( I borrowed it from finance). Some of the events are rare happening( 911attack) and they influence psyche of the people. The religious heads also do not take any immediate steps to correct the damage that is created by such events.