motheatheist

One of the amazing things with having a community of people that have gone through the same journey is how diverse the paths are. Some people leave due to moral objections, some due to the entire framework of 'god' being faulty, some leave due to (moral or scientific) issues within the religious texts , some leave due to the status of women... nearly every person has a unique take on what caused them to rethink their worldview.

For myself , a very well educated friend of mine , STEM major started believing in demons. In Islamic mythos one is tortured in the grave depending on ones sins, the friend I mentioned talked of a contemporary religious scholar that had experienced it , while burying someone.

That led to me spending about a year trying to understand my faith better. The goal was to prove to him that he was wrong and Islam was a scientifically sound religion, by the end of the year I had a moment of clarity where I realized that I was lying to myself ... the rest as they say is history.

Write!! Speak out but do so anonymously. You can purchase a VPN that will anonymize your connection and allow you to avoid detection. If you're in a particularly dangerous location perhaps use TOR or encrypt your posts and email them to us or other secularists that can post them for you.

Organize Muslims to stand up for principles that will protected everyone. The solution to Shia-Sunni-Ahmedi-etc conflicts are secularism, one can fight for secularism while outwardly going through the motions of being a devout muslim.

Even beyond that there are many many actual Muslims that are fighting for human rights, secularism, scientific education etc in every muslim country. You can ally with them and help them or emulate their work. One of my hands down favorite activist in the world is Pervez Hoodbhoy. He's a physicist from Pakistan and is adopting a role similar to Carl Sagan , educating the average Pakistani in Urdu about basic scientific principles.

Ultimately we have to stand up and demand change. Unfortunately asking a billion odd people to change won't come without cost and the first people to make a demand of that magnitude usually are the ones to suffer most. It's an individual choice on what you can do and what you are willing to risk.

The last lynching in the US was in 1981, Obama was elected in 2008... While I'm not starry eyed about how fast change will happen, one can never really know...

The thing to remember is that the overwhelming majority of muslims believe with 100% certainty that the quran is the inerrant word of god, and that there are no imperfections to it. The majority in my experience also believe that Mohammad was the ideal man for all time and is to be emulated as such. The dissonance becomes clear when you realise that many of those who would say that muhammad’s actions are to be emulated also stand against the actions of IS, many of whom they share and were common 1400 years ago.

Slavery being a very obvious example. Most muslims like most other people in the 21st century abhor the idea of slavery but have trouble coming to terms with the fact that their vision of a perfect man practised it himself.

A lot of progressive muslims understand that what was common 1400+ years ago and what is moral today is very different. The problem is that they need to stand up and acknowledge that parts of the Quran or Mohammad’s life are no longer relevant which is a very quick way of being cast out from the circle of believers entirely. Maajid Nawaz, a muslim secularist from the UK is routinely castigated as being an atheist for the audacity of talking about reform.

Two possibilities regarding the change of stance of hardlines states, you have a revolution where someone like Ata-Turk of Turkey comes into power and sets their nation on a course towards secularism. I view that scenario as somewhat improbable. The other possibility is those that are Muslim or those that were Muslim promote the idea of reform. As it gains mainstream traction you change the dynamics that allow conservative, literal interpretation to gain acceptance. The internet will play a big part in making this possible, just having the relevant information available to the masses goes a long way. A little prodding from reformist Muslims and ex-Muslims doesn't hurt either ;).

Primarily look after your own safety and independence. If you’re in a secular state focus on your education and try to become financially independent. There are active Ex-Muslim Communities in Australia, Canada, US, UK, reach out to them for support and if there isn’t one local to you reach out to secular groups. They’ve been very helpful to all of us.

If you’re NOT in a secular state, keep it to yourself at least if you don’t have an option to leave quickly. We get regular reports of people being arrested or worse if word of their atheism reaches the wrong circles (it obviously varies greatly based on ones geography, socioeconomic conditions etc). I’d also advise studying , applying for school in a secular country and trying to move over. The easiest way to do so is with work or education.

About the family specifically, it’s more about whether they’ll be accepting or not, it varies dramatically. If you’re a guy it’s usually significantly easier than if you’re a girl. If you stagger changes, it’s often easier for others to come to terms with it. For example, praying 5 times a day to once a day to once a week to stopping altogether, or taking off the Hijab while swearing to be devout.

Obviously if conditions are intolerable or abusive , making a clean break is the best way but ultimately you’re the only one that can decide that.