apostasin - 24 October 2012 07:40 PM
Hey everyone,
There was no “introduce yourself” section on the forums, so I thought I might as well introduce myself here.
Howdy, and welcome.
I used to be a devout, practicing Muslim for over 20 years.
Even though I was always a skeptic, my faith only started eroding over the past 7 years.
Let’s test ya with the avitar test. Look at mine.
How are you doing?
I am now a strident atheist, helping other ex-Muslims with the ensuing struggles that occur when they lose their faith. I also help them escape situations that are potentially life-threatening if their apostasy was made public. I am also undertaking a fairly daunting project that will aim to tell their stories as well.
My hat’s off to you, brother. Thank you.
I’ve come here to ask you a few simple questions:
1- Using your current knowledge of Islam and its current state, what do you think it will take for Muslims to take steps towards accepting apostates among them?
I would guess that, given the history of similar models, as well as a good number of players in the turmoil that is Islam today being people who only seem to understand violence and embrace it, it will take a very bloody civil war from within. I think that the outside world can provide little more than cheerleading, and assistance in helping pick up the pieces when it’s over. But I gotta tell ya, we really don’t want to be victims of Islam’s growing pains anymore. We’re reaching some critical points in history where if we don’t rescue ourselves from the attacks on simple human freedoms from religious groups, we may never get them back. Look at the Satanic Verses reaction, the Danish Cartoon bullshit, the death of Theo Van Gogh, or the recent flap over a silly movie. There’s a pattern here. When people allow their religion to do all their thinking for them, and their leaders gather them together and tell them what their opinion has to be, their IQs plummet. Reason is replaced with bloodlust. You can see it coming. And Muslims, being the most reactionary people on the planet, are also inevitably the most predictable.
And of course, I’m referring to the Muslims that show up on our radar. Not the bad Muslims. The scripturally-incorrect/challenged Muslims. The one’s we’re happy to have as neighbors. We don’t hear from those Muslims when the real Muslims are being as uncivilized as the authors of the books Islam was plagiarized from often were. And that’s the problem, as your story tells. There are many within Islam who don’t agree with much, or don’t agree with some harsh, official interpretations, but are scared shitless to speak up. And who can blame them? It takes an exception person to do what you say you are doing.
My question to you is, just how many Muslims do you suppose there are who don’t agree with much within their scriptures, but stay anyways. Counter-part to the Christian pew-warmer. I would guess it would be just as high. Fear is every bit as effective as complacency when it comes to human behavior, and then some.
2- How can Islam progressively become as relatively less-harmful to the development of societies as Christianity is? Granted, Christianity can have severe consequences if its version of the world were to creep into classrooms, but you don’t see a pastor shooting a 14-year old girl in the face for carrying a book.
See answer to question 1. It will take something huge. Possibly earth-shattering. It will have to become uncool to do such a thing. That’s a social issue, and not a legal one. It would be hard to imagine the townspeople letting someone get away so easily in the West. And not because it’s illegal to shoot a 14 year old girl in the face.
