A hearty welcome to you Kaffir Latte!
As a former starbucks barista, I totally LOVE your username!
The Dawkins , Dennet and Hitchens books were important to me but not as a way of leaving religion , I had done that years before , it was more a psychological/ therapeutic thing , a map of how to get out of the mindfuck and an immensely welcome articulation of what I knew already.
This was my experience too. I knew at least 10 years ago that I was not Muslim and might have never really believed in all the B.S. But it took a long time for me to discover the works of Dawkins and Hitchens, the 2 who have inspired me the most to take the final step and come out of the closet as an apostate and an atheist. This is why it's important to be out, to inspire others.
The guilt and the last remaining drops of fear (of hell, god, eternal torture etc.) were finally wiped away with the warm kind of ratioality and atheism that is now becoming available to more and more, thanks to authors and speakers like Dawkins and Hitchens, Sam Harris and Maryam Namazie.
Nice to see you here. Cheers.
Hi Allat . As I said one of the reasons I registered here is to get a perspective from people leaving the chains of Islam /Submission behind . I am from the UK and can only speak for my experience here but I think in general the consequences of a person leaving the Islamic faith has to be a higher risk affair than of of one leaving the Christian faith. Im sure someone could come up with a few horrific stories from the christian perspective but on the whole I feel I could say quite openly in any company that I am ex christian without fear of anymore than a dissaproving scowl or , Thor forbid , an attempt at saving my soul through trying to explain the bible 'properly' .
On the other hand I would imagine that if I were to have left Islam in the UK the odds are that I would have to tread carefully in certain situations and that the ramifications for my family and personal relationships would be much greater.
It is for this reason I have nothing but unadulterated admiration for those here who not only have broken the chains but are not afraid to say so publicly. Maryam is one inspirational human being and Im sure there are many others like her.
I imagine there must be many hundreds of people in the UK who just know that its all nonsense , see the hypocrisy of it daily but feel they can say nothing becuase the pressures are too strong. They need to hear ex Muslims speaking out and letting them know they are not alone. What you are attempting to achieve has my upmost respect , admiration and support.
Save the Humans
Peace out
PS : Are their any books that anyone could recommend for me on this subject ? Is there a Muslim equivalent of TGD around ?
Topic: a wee introduction