Why have a council of "ex-Muslims"?
It suggests one is still defining oneself by Islam, when paradoxically one has claimed to have left it.
Life is a paradox. For example, why are cars parked in driveways and driven on parkways? What's up with that?!
It seems an example of negative identification, Coleridge's dead albatross, a mole upon one's back, etc.
That's because it IS a negative identification. But negative identification is sometimes necessary when you live in a world full of assumptions. The "Muslim" label is the albatross that's dead but still surgically attached to us by racists and by practicing Muslims. The "Muslim" label is the cancerous mole on our back that we were (mostly) born with or developed through some mutation in our sense of the world. Negative identifications are necessary because we may not believe in allah or the infallibility of mohammed or the inerrancy of the quran anymore, but we are still identified with those who still do, for example in most statistics, by our relatives, due to our names, by immigration officials etc. Many of us are also closeted ex Muslims so for those of us, it's important to know that liberation from the Muslim label is possible if only initially as an "ex Muslim" at
this point in history.
People need something positive to identify with, something that moves them forward....
Yes, and many of us do identify with other communities too. Just because this forum exists and we're in it, doesn't mean we're not involved in other things too.
Even a council of atheists doesn't seem to suffice, because it again defines oneself by denying theism, denying G-d.
Same for atheism. It's important to identify ourselves both in the positive sense - of what we are - and in the negative sense - of what we are not. It's an ongoing and constantly shifting process of becoming truer to yourself. Different people are just at different points in that journey.
Besides, it's not just your god for whom no evidence exists, atheists say that NONE of the gods have been proven to exist. That includes all those tribal gods of the pantheon that yahweh was part of before his people decided he was the only one, and all the hindu gods, and native american gods, egyptian gods, greek gods, and xenu, with all of whom you as a monotheist are also an atheist.
If you were to define yourself positively rather than an "ex-Muslim" or "ex-(anything"),what would it be?
Lately, I like to call myself a Zen Existentialist, but I don't like labels and reserve and practice my right to define myself however I like, or as nothing in particular, depending on where I am in my own learning and journey.
Topic: Why be a council of "Ex-Muslims"?