On Feb. 27, a rather strange cartoon in The Diamondback greeted me. It depicted an atheist fretting over the fact he cannot “push [his] opinions down [the] throats” of Catholics since some are giving up Facebook for Lent. Atheists are often portrayed as angry and disrespectful, and the portrayal has some merit to it.

The anger stems from the damage today’s highly politicized faiths cause in the lives of many people around us. We all know people who have been banished from churches for being gay, many gay friends will likely never have the right to marry, and women’s reproductive health is bartered away by politicians to appease certain religious groups. I have not even begun to touch upon serious religious violence.

Now it must be emphasized that not all religious people are guilty of these offenses, but it is also useful to point out, as physicist Steven Weinberg said, “With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil — that takes religion.” As for being disrespectful, the fact is many will take our existence itself as a mark of disrespect. There are societies and nations in this century where proclaiming oneself as an atheist is equal to inviting a death sentence. What prevents such a travesty here is the Jeffersonian vision that oversees this nation.

Contemporary atheists seem loud because for most of human history we were a silent minority or a silenced minority. To use an analogy, the reaction most religious people have to any average atheist proclamation is not very different from the reaction the average male chauvinist has when a woman speaks. The status quo was atheist silence just as it was female silence (and still is in the average theocratic state), and now to hear atheists starting to speak is just unacceptable for so many.

So does the cartoon offend? Sure, but at the risk of stereotyping, atheists are generally made out of sterner stuff and possess a sense of humor. As the cartoon suggests, socially inept people can be atheists, too. The religious certainly have no monopoly on being insufferable. Of course, there are things that offend me much more than any cartoon ever will.

I am offended that slogans such as “AIDS is bad but condoms are worse” are sponsored in Africa using tax-free dollars. I am offended a religious organization that claims to be the ultimate word on human morality provides defense lawyers and shelter for sinister pedophiles, again, using tax-free dollars (not that it would be justified if the dollars were taxed at the highest rate possible).

Moreover, no sincere acknowledgment of a systemic flaw seems forthcoming regarding the same. Remember, in March 2000, the Vatican issued an apology for, among many things, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the persecution of the Jewish people, injustice toward women, forced conversions of indigenous peoples, the slave trade and for silence during Hitler’s Final Solution (anti-Semitism was an official doctrine of sorts until 1964 when the “accusation” was repudiated). In addition, you do not need to be an atheist to find loopholes in a religion; all you need to be is a member of a different religion.

Finally, I have no quarrel with any individuals who hold their faith dear and follow its edicts; many of us were indeed sincere followers of the faiths we renounced. However, an intelligent conversation demands being able to hear the other side (and remember most of us atheists were on the other side). I implore believers to ask themselves: Have they really ever heard the atheist argument without deep prejudice? Given that this is the 21st century … maybe it is time.

Zubin Adrianvala is a doctoral candidate in the urban studies and planning department. He can be reached at zubin@umd.edu.