Religion is a touchy subject for many people, and it can be especially touchy when it comes to liberal arts colleges. However, it doesn't have to be quite as incendiary as some may think. It all comes down to two things: being accepting, and being nice.
The main problems that occur with religion, besides the obvious ones having to do with extremism and violence, tend to be caused by unwillingness to be open minded, either by religious people or non-religious people. This can be a cause of a great deal of conflicts. In the case of both religious and non-religious people, there can be a tendency towards judgment--and often harsh judgment, at that.
The problem with this is that, from my perspective, there is not any type of actual conflict between religious and non-religious people, because belief and faith are incredibly personal. It is up to the individual to decide what they believe, or whether they believe, and it is up to other people not to judge them for it.
Having faith in religion is great, and it is a very powerful part of many people's lives, but the problem occurs when one tries to forcefully spread one's beliefs. However, the same problem occurs in the case of people who are not religious. Forcefully spreading belief or non-belief, and questioning someone's character because of either one of these particular ideologies, is not a good thing to do. In fact, it is quite mean.
Among some atheists (and I in no way mean to make generalizations), for example, there is an attitude that those who practice religion and have faith are somehow not intellectual, or are blindly following a pack. But, this is not the case. As I said before, religion is incredibly personal, and for many, it is something that they struggle with and think about a great deal, and it should have no implications about a person's character.
On the other hand, there are certain religious people (and once more, I do not intend to make generalizations) who make similar judgments of those who are not religious. And this, too, is not okay. Faith is not an indicator of character or moral judgment. It is, however, something personal, and something that many people struggle with and come up with different answers and opinions.
Basically, my point is that judging people for their personal decisions in any context, whether religious or otherwise, is a bad thing to do. It does not make you superior to other people to be non-religious or religious. People are people, whether they have faith or not, and, barring circumstances in which their faith or lack-thereof hurts and harms others, they shouldn't have to deal with unfair judgment.
