Is the mother supposed to be sad about religion being a sham or sad that her child doesn’t believe? The comic is too ambiguous to me because the 1st and 2nd panel heavily imply a caricature of atheism often spread by religious people who feel powerless in their own lives.

There's a difference between religion and faith. Faith is belief in a higher power. Religion is an institution that exploits faith to opress people. This neckbeard atheist didn't thwart religion, he just destroyed his mom's faith. I have my doubts that his mom was doing a lot of oppressing.

I'm an atheist but I understand that religion and/or faith makes a lot of people happy and I don't want to take that happiness away from them.

So... It's better to live in the matrix, gotcha.

Agnostic here and yeah, most atheists and agnostics I have ever met are about the same. We don't care if YOU believe. We care that you care we don't. Most of us will never utter a word against your religion and beliefs as long as you "do unto others" and all that jazz. This comic reaks of being drawn by a Christian about how they think Athiests behave and feel. This video is ancient now, but I get the same vibes off this comic.

delivering someone from a lifetime of sexual and gender oppression, and eliminating their need to tithe a portion of their income to an organization that hides and protects pedophiles and rapists?

Mom's on the floor weeping with joy.

this guys stuff is great. heres a bit more

For some people it is. Hell, there's even a character in the actual movie who thinks so.

DEAR LORD PEOPLE, SOMETIMES THERE IS NOT A DEEPER MESSAGE AND IT'S JUST A DUMB JOKE!

Seriously, check out the other comics by this artist. They just like absurdist humor, like this one:

Some people just can't handle being released from Plato's cave.

To be honest, I don't think a lot of people are ready. It's a hard thing to deconstruct your faith and if you're not careful it can take you to some really dark places. For a lot of people it's the way they find meaning and solace in a world of pain. Ultimately if you can find that comfort without tying it to religion that's better but not everyone can. That's my take on it post-deconversion

Not every member of a church experiences those things first hand.

Oh boy, I sure love the ol' "atheists are filthy neckbeards" canard. Haven't heard that one before.

Yeah, and he doesn't mind killing other people for that

lucky! they still subsidize the activity if they tithe tho.

Don't be anti-intellectual about this silly comic. People can apply intellectual analysis to stupid things if they want to, and they damn-well may find deeper meaning sometimes.

Let people have their hobbies.

The first experience for many is crushing despair. It can take time to get out of that slump and learn to find meaning in a meaningless world.

I take this comic to be more poking fun at the portion of atheists who make their entire personality around disproving God's existence - people who try to spread atheism the same way christians spread their own gospel. It's largely not applicable to other atheists.

Yeah, there are exceptions in every group

Don't forget the "not believing in god = sadness" one. Realizing it is fake actually brought relief for the ex-religious people that I know (anecdotal, I know. I don't have the actual numbers).