Re: Athesit Thread (For non-believers only)
For those who were not always but are now atheists and/or agnostic (which I am). What is the journey that made you come to your conclusions?
I am a closeted agnostic lol
My story:
My parents are muslims,but religion has never played a big role in my family.There are some rules we follow (no pork, we don't celebrate christmas) but i don't think that they are too strict.I don't believe in god but i don't rule out the existence of a higher power.
But there are things that i don't like.I have noticed many things in my religion (this is only my experience,i don't want to speak for all muslims out there but i do think it is the case in most families):
I have never read the Quran so i can't say if this shouldn't be the case but there are so many things that are just wrong in my culture and i don't know if things are just interpretated wrong...
-women aren't being treated equal.They have to obey their husband, they have to be 'pure' before marriage (their virginity is sooo important for many muslim boys i can tell you...), they aren't really allowed to be independent... this is something i have experienced but i have also seen it with many friends.I'm not allowed to have sleep overs,my parents don't want me to have a boyfriend because 'mistakes' can happen,they don't want me to move out until i get married (to an albanian man of course) etc. They are also very sceptical about my friends (black,homosexual, serbian...).Boys are definitely prefered and no matter what they do they forgive them while girls are abandoned. My cousins had german girlfriends, they smoked or drinked and had sex and they lived alone... nobody really complained.
-beating, it seems to be something completely normal.We don't talk about it but it happens all the time.
-reputation.... now this is actually quite irritating for me because i have never cared about what others think.But there is this notion that others have to 'respect' you. You don't talk loud so that your neighbours won't hear you fighting, you don't divorce,you even lie to people if necessary (i wasn't beaten, I just fell) ... simply things that would bring 'shame' over your family. We have a term in Germany ,,Das Gesicht verlieren" (to loose your face) which describes it pretty well.I feel like many muslims fear their reputation.
I love my family and i love many of our traditions.I don't want to 'misbehave' but there are many things i don't like and that i want to do differently.But i feel like i can never be really 100% free because if i do something very wrong (in their eyes) it will hurt them so much.
But sometimes I am actually thankful.Because i still live a better life than many muslim women out there.I live in Germany and here things are quite different.It's like having two lifes, and i see the good and the bad in both of them.Sometimes I was proud of my religion but then i think of my friends and their lifes.They are allowed to do things that I am not and it makes me sad.
The good thing though... nobody has ever pressured me to believe in god or be part of the religion.I was always interested in science but i think that there are things that can't be really explained.So to me both things are possible,but i could never relate to the idea of a god.I don't see why i should devote my time to someone who has done nothing helpful.In this moment there are people starving and wars going on and he is just sitting there and watching us? I don't like the idea.I don't like to blindly worship someone who's extistence has never been proven.But i understand that there are people who gain hope and strength from their religion and aslong as they are peaceful I'm ok with it.
So that's the reason why, i hope my text wasn't too long.I hope i could give some insight... i have been browsing this thread for quite a while but i didn't dare to say anything, now i had the courage with the right question