tell us more about this please
I'm sure you noticed that the atheist movement upped the ante these past years. Dawkins (PBUH) and the gang were making too much sense, and I exhausted every possible rationalization of faith.
& how you found us
Very welcoming!
More seriously...I was watching Hazelthon's TED talk about the Quran, and was fairly distressed by her conclusions. So I googled around to see if a deconstruction of her argument was made and stumbled upon a thread on this forum.
Are you an open ex-muslim with your family?
I "came out" to my mother and my aunt a few months ago to test the waters (we were stuck together in a confined on a journey and I thought it's the perfect occasion). I don't remember exactly what triggered it...but it was probably one of them quoting the Quran, bashing the Jews, or something similar. When I made my atheism public, they were shocked and thought I am the devil incarnated. I mean even though she's literate, dresses up western-style, has never set foot in a mosque as far as I can tell, she derives a lot of comfort from spirituality. My aunt is highly educated, and as a staunch feminist...thought it was not a totally unreasonable position.
Inevitably, the "come back to Allah" discussion ensued. I was called a traitor. I was called an ignorant who was corrupted by the West and doesn't know true Islam. I was pressured emotionally to recant my statements to not hurt their feelings. But I stood my ground. And they kept pushing. So I was explained my position...which they took as proselytizing and they turned the tables on me and accused me of intolerance. It was surreal, but an eye-opener and I concluded that one should thread carefully.
I mean...even as a 200lb muscled guy facing old ladies, I started fearing for my physical integrity. I know it's silly but one can't predict how these things will turn out.
Now that some time has passed, they accepted it. But I'm pretty certain that if I told other family members, there will be resentments, threats or even violence. I have some orthodox folks in my family that are all lovely, but I'm not sure they would tolerate apostasy. Although, since I started talking to their kids about myths and superstitions, some eyebrows were raised.
Do you know any other ex-muslims in real life?
An Ivy-League educated childhood friend of mine visited me a while back and the issue came up. I reminded him about our teenage years when he used to drag me to the mosque and lecture me about Islam. Now he feels ridiculous he ever held such beliefs (but he keeps it to himself). He lives in the US though so I almost never see him.
It feels nice to share.
Topic: Hello from a recent convert to reason