1) Sex before marriage and taboo sex
(a) Nothing wrong with it. A natural/biological phenomena which occurs in almost all species, so didn't see what was wrong with it as long as you used protection.
(b) My views remain the same with more understanding of the reasons why this was made a taboo subject, e.g by making people feel guilty about their natural desires the religions try to control them.
2) Homosexuality
(a) When I first found out about it my immediate reaction was that it was unnatural/gross, but that was only for male-male sex, I've always loved lesbians
. Eventually I came to understand the reasons why some people are homosexual and I perfectly respected them - as long as the male homosexuals stay away from me
.
(b) My views remain the same except now I'm an even bigger fan of lesbian porn
3) Pork
(a) I had a gut level repulsive reaction and would never eat it, even though i never tried it. Although as part of some cooking classes I would handle it with my hands without wearing gloves.
(b) I still haven't tried it and still have a bit of repulsive reaction to thinking about eating it, however I plan on trying this the next opportunity I get.
4) Alcohol
(a) I was neutral about it, didn't mind others drinking it, but didn't drink myself both because of religious & health reasons.
(b) I still think its healthier to not drink and plan on staying a non-drinker. And i don't like the taste.
5) Modest dress code
(a) It used to make me very angry and frustrated at why perfectly sexy women had to be wrapped around in robes looking like a sack of potatoes.
(b) Still the same views!
6) Suicide bombing
(a) As a kid I read stories made to sound heroic of brave soldiers who would lie down under tanks and get blown up during wars. When I grew up I began to view them as stupid, and the bombings as inhumane when they kill civilians. I always considered them brainwashed and un-islamic, and that islam never advocated suicide bombings.
(b) My views remain the same - i view the bombers as stupid, bombings as inhumane. However I think that
perhaps in certain situations such as during a war they can be effective tool against military targets, but never against civilians. Personally I would be opposed to using or doing this though.
7) Jihad
(a) As a kid I used to favor them and view it as a sort of heroic fight, thanks mostly due to the media & brainwashing children's books & magazines published in Pakistan. When I grew older I gradually began to break out of this trance, thanks in part to the internet and some good influences in my family, and began relating it to terrorism. Although I kept up the shield of 'jihad being only for defense' while I was a muslim.
(b) I'm now completely against all forms of military action taken to spread a religion, and all offensive action taken against civilians such as terrorism. Although to others I still say that terrorism is not jihad & its un-islamic, just to turn them against the idea.
8 ) Other religions
(a) Embarassing
. I used to view all other religions as being deluded, stupid, made fun of the rituals they had and how idiotic they were, etc, and how islam was the only true religion. I'm thankful to a good family influence who taught me about tolerance and racism, and since i was about 15-16 I view all of them as humans and wanted to make friends with all of them.
(b) I now consider all religions to be fairytales and people who believe in them to be a bit deluded, and now I make fun of ALL religions' stupid rituals, including Islam. But i'm in big favor of freedom of religion and have a diverse range of friends, from atheists, buddhists, hindus, to christians. I would never hate or dislike anyone just because of being from a particular religion - although fundamentalists come pretty close to annoying me.
9) Mohammed
(a) You know the deal. Most perfect man in the world, man with no flaws, anyone who punishes him needs to be killed, etc.
(b) I would rather not say anything as it may be considered blasphemous and punishable by death in the country I'm currently in, but my views are probably the same as 90% of muslim apostates.
10) Allah
(a) Used to consider him my friend, would confide in to him about my secrets, consider him very kind, etc. It was because of this view of Allah as 'friendly' that I broke many other rules of Islam against sex, watching porn, saying prayers, etc because I felt that he/she won't send me to hell for carrying out harmless/biologically natural stuff.
(b) I still think there may be a high power of some sort but don't call it Allah anymore.
11) Circumcision/FGM
(a) Used to think male circumsicion is good, it protects against STDs, etc. Always considered FGM the worst thing ever and hated it!
(b) I'm unclear if male circumsicion offers some protection against STDs or not, i was circumcized as a baby so can't do anything about that anyway. Although I'm not planning on ever having kids, i think its wrong to do this to a child and best to let him grow up without it and get it himself if he wants to when he grows up.
12) Young marriage
(a) Always considered it wrong.
(b) Still do.
13) How you wish to be buried
(a) The usual islamic way, namaz-jinaza, grave, etc.
(b) I want to be frozen and kept frozen until science finds a way to bring dead folks back to life
, Failing that I would like to be cremated.
Topic: Please show how you think differently now that you are an ex muslim