I think its more hostile than when I started. I'm pretty sure some of the comments about other people's religion wouldn't have stood in 2009[1].
The biggest difference to me is a tactical change of not refuting the other side or even acknowledging their argument, but just bury people you disagree with and take their voice.
Religious flamewars are not allowed here and we point that out whenever we see them. If something like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10574861 comes up again, it would be good email us at hn@ycombinator.com. We don't see everything, so we rely on users to keep us informed.
It wasn't a "Religious flamewars", it was a drive-by of FUD that has been repeated in political threads. I wasn't arguing for superiority of something, I was just pointing out the historical truth and beliefs of a church. Frankly, getting downvoted for quoting the founder/prophet of the church for the origin of the name was a pretty low point on HN for me.