Greetings! Newbie here

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- downunda
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Greetings! Newbie here
OP - February 01, 2011, 01:56 AM

Hi all

New to the forum.

I'm an ex-muslim. Now atheist (still a closet atheist, I've only told a handful of people and they've generally been people that aren't close to me)

Born in Iraq, now living down-under (NZ/AUS - not sure if want to reveal at this stage)

I lost my faith about 9 months ago (early-mid 2010).

Not sure what else to say so if you have any questions please throw them at me.

I'm just real happy to have discovered this forum. It was great to see so many people share so many of my problems, concerns, delights etc and also reminded me of the night I finally admitted to myself that I could no longer call myself a muslim because I had lost my belief - an incredibly liberating and exhilarating feeling.
- downunda
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #1 - February 01, 2011, 02:01 AM

Btw.... are there any forum members here from Australia or New Zealand too? IF so please let me know - PM if need be
- Alex Lam Meem
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #2 - February 01, 2011, 02:04 AM

WELCOME!!! Feel at home and I'm sure there are many Ex-Muslims here from down there.
What pushed you over the fence into dar-ul-Kufr?

"That it is indeed the speech of an illustrious messenger" (The Koran 69:40)
- allat
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #3 - February 01, 2011, 02:08 AM

Welcome downunda Yes there are a few members from the land of Oz, I'm sure you'll come across them here

"Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused."
- clarap
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #4 - February 01, 2011, 02:45 AM

another member yey this place is great so enjoy your stay! have a

may i ask what was problematic for you in islam?

Quote from: zooby on December 25, 2011, 08:57 PM
I think a lot of us were brought here by google. Verily google guides whom it wills!
- GodIsNotGreat
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #5 - February 01, 2011, 02:57 AM

Welcome to the forum.

19:46 <zizo>: hugs could pimp u into sex

Quote from: yeezevee
well I am neither ex-Muslim nor absolute 100% Non-Muslim.. I am fucking Zebra
- hypocrucifier
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #6 - February 01, 2011, 03:03 AM

Hey! you were down under until your ah-ha moment, now you are rising above the darkness to see the light of reason. Congratulations!

The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.
Thomas Paine

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored !- Aldous Huxley
- downunda
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #7 - February 01, 2011, 03:23 AM

Quote from: clarap on February 01, 2011, 02:45 AM
another member yey this place is great so enjoy your stay! have a

may i ask what was problematic for you in islam?

Not sure if I had many problems with Islam as such, i'll admit I was a sheep - I was a liberal moderate muslim who only saw the rosey parts of islam. I had never read the quran yet I prayed 5 times a day, never touched alcohol, fasted everyday of ramadan. About a year ago I admitted that I was kidding myself and that I needed to take religion more seriously and start learning about my religion so that I can be 'a better muslim'.

But it didn't take long before serious doubts grew in my mind. They were doubts that I could no longer ignore

I think it was more that I found the concept of god, religion and worshiping a problem. I could never get my head around the concept of an omnipotent, omnipresent god, it just doesn't make sense.

Luckily around the same time I was having doubts, I stumbled upon SCIENCE! Something that I always thought was silly as a muslim (one of the main reasons I now hate religion - how it keeps people away from science). It's so embarrassing but I really knew nothing about evolution or the big bang till about a year ago (I was 21 years old).

Excuse my poor writing, I have serious problems in trying to articulate my thoughts lol
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #8 - February 01, 2011, 04:12 AM

Welcome to the forums!

I too found that once I stopped thinking I had all the answers (God did it) I was far more interested in what the answers really are.

I don't come here any more due to unfair moderation.
http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/index.php?topic=30785
- mathmadx
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #9 - February 01, 2011, 04:34 AM

Quote
"Teach a man to reason and he'll think for a lifetime"

"There's real poetry in the real world, science is the poetry of reality"

Symphony of science FTW!!
- clarap
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #10 - February 01, 2011, 05:22 AM

@downunda

I see. i have similar experience to yours in that as I was reading the Qur'an and then its critique I had to dig a little deeper and find out facts about the alleged scientific miracles. i must admit that i am pretty much ignorant (how embarrasing!) when it comes to evolution (i remember in high school evolution was only briefly mentioned and it wasn't that long ago!) or big bang theory. I felt I should know those things but there was always sth more important to do :/ Now I feel this urge to gain knowledge it feels amazing i never liked history but now i'm planning to explore it same goes for astronomy but i do feel more comfortable discussing moral teachings of the Qur'an. anyways, good thing that happened is that reading the qur'an left me starving for knowledge! who would have thought!

funny thing is that my ex-bf tried to convert me to islam by mentioning scientific miracles in the quran. i brought up just one, embryology, and mentioned in what way it is incorrect as described in the quran. all of a sudden he was like: "well, let's not discuss science, i don't have enough knowledge about it". why bring it up in the first place? counting on somebody's ignorance of the subject? i was absolutely astounded that he'd bring a topic yet he couldn't present plausible arguments supporting his statement. they must be feeding them such claims in mosques i guess..

Quote from: zooby on December 25, 2011, 08:57 PM
I think a lot of us were brought here by google. Verily google guides whom it wills!
- cosmicdancer
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #11 - February 01, 2011, 05:33 AM

Welcome downunder - yes, we have members from Oz, the only ones that pop to mind right now are osmanthus and spiraldive, but I know there are others.

Glad to have you on board - there are many of us out there - but sadly most of them think they are the only ones and feel alone and isolated - we really need some PR to get the message out as this is just the tip of an ice-berg!
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #12 - February 01, 2011, 05:49 AM

tell us how you found us

My Book
My Blog
- downunda
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #13 - February 01, 2011, 06:11 AM

Thanks guys.

@mathmadx - Fuck yeaaaaah! the symphony of science songs are absolutely brilliant....should be shown to all school children!

@clarap - Sounds like you and I are on the same boat. I have a new found love for knowledge. I'm happy to admit that i'm not very smart or intelligent but I have no doubt that i'll spend the rest of my life trying to correct that. Science fascinates me now. It such an amazing turn around because this time last year I couldn't give a shit about anything to do with science. Once I learnt how to truly be a critical thinker, there was no going back.

Oh and about the 'scientific miracles in the quran'. It seems to me that for many if not most muslims, this is their biggest "proof" that the quran isn't written by man. If only more of them could see what a load of shit these 'scientific miracles' are.

@hassan - definitely agree about getting the message out. This is definitely a great forum, but I gotta say it was hard to find. It would be great for anyone having doubts about Islam.

@IsLame - I think I visited the CEMB website a few months ago but at the time I didn't notice that there was a 'forum' link (wish I had). A couple of days ago I was on youtube subscribing to several channels of ex-muslims and I also found the CEMB youtube page, which led me to the forum.
- hypocrucifier
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #14 - February 01, 2011, 08:05 AM

Quote from: downunda on February 01, 2011, 01:56 AM
Hi all

I'm a male and yesterday I probably came the closest I've come to crying in a long long time while reading through the forum. It was great to see so many people share so many of my problems, concerns, delights etc and also reminded me of the night I finally admitted to myself that I could no longer call myself a muslim because I had lost my belief - an incredibly liberating and exhilarating feeling.

What a coincidence even the Muslims claim people cry unabashedly when they ~~revert~~[ ]convert from other religions/atheism!

Quote from: clarap on February 01, 2011, 05:22 AM
Quote
@downunda

I see. i have similar experience to yours in that as I was reading the Qur'an and then its critique I had to dig a little deeper and find out facts about the alleged scientific miracles. i must admit that i am pretty much ignorant (how embarrasing!) when it comes to evolution (i remember in high school evolution was only briefly mentioned and it wasn't that long ago!) or big bang theory. I felt I should know those things but there was always sth more important to do :/ Now I feel this urge to gain knowledge it feels amazing i never liked history but now i'm planning to explore it same goes for astronomy but i do feel more comfortable discussing moral teachings of the Qur'an. anyways, good thing that happened is that reading the qur'an left me starving for knowledge! who would have thought!

All is well that ends well! A fortuitous detour from nonsense to sense. Probably what helped a great deal was you started off as an non believer, if you were Catholic or something similar your goose would have been well and truly cooked because of the similarity of the nonsense that they deal with.

Quote
funny thing is that my ex-bf tried to convert me to islam by mentioning scientific miracles in the quran. i brought up just one, embryology, and mentioned in what way it is incorrect as described in the quran. all of a sudden he was like: "well, let's not discuss science, i don't have enough knowledge about it". why bring it up in the first place? counting on somebody's ignorance of the subject? i was absolutely astounded that he'd bring a topic yet he couldn't present plausible arguments supporting his statement. they must be feeding them such claims in mosques i guess..

1]I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy.

2]The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.

3]It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong.

4]It is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn't get confined, permanently blocked, as it has so many times before in various periods in the history of man.

5]Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

6]The idea is to try to give all the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another.

Richard Feynman

The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.
Thomas Paine

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored !- Aldous Huxley
- clarap
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #15 - February 01, 2011, 09:46 AM

@hypocrucifier

I was born into a catholic family and my parents are fairly religious. i rebelled early cause I was in total disagreement with what Church was and is doing. I also never read the bible entirely. All I knew about christianity was what I learned during occasional sunday mass i attended and it wasn't that bad. i was certainly a deist. but when you read about islam, especially from muslim sources, you do come across a lot of Bible 'bashing'. Muslims are VERY QUICK to point out things that are wrong with the Bible and Christianity etc. So in the end I also learned a lot about the faith i was brought up with.
However, learning about Islam had a bigger influence on me because i actually took the time to read the Qur'an, sometimes with tafseers, read commentaries etc. There is far more info out there available at your fingertips and there is no excuse really for being ignorant.
If I chose Islam, it would be my own independent choice based on the critical analysis I conducted. Needless to say, scripture didn't pass the test, but interest remained and to be honest since then I've been harrassing the blogosphere asking people uncomfortable questions I always wanted to develop myself and learn more and more. Now this urge has been rekindled and I'm very happy about it

Islam, as a system, felt like a straight-jacket to me. I really wanted to be a muslim, to be with my ex (silly me!), so when I finally decided I couldn't defend indefensible, it was such a relief! I was no longer scared that i'd be closing doors to pursuit of knowledge.

@dowunda

I'm happy that you feel this way! i keep collating lists of positions to read, films to watch, subjects to learn about! it's such an amazing feeling! welcome on board let's sail the sea of knowledge and science together!

Quote from: zooby on December 25, 2011, 08:57 PM
I think a lot of us were brought here by google. Verily google guides whom it wills!
- muddy
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #16 - February 01, 2011, 10:14 AM

Hey, welcome to the forum downunda!

Have a parrot!

Admin of following facebook pages and groups:
Islam's Last Stand (page)
Islam's Last Stand (group)
and many others...
- nesrin
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #17 - February 01, 2011, 11:56 AM

g'day mate.
hi and welcome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV9vdUjuWxc
- MHMcGill
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #18 - February 01, 2011, 10:56 PM

Welcome buddy! I'm new here myself
- Elifaz
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #19 - February 02, 2011, 03:26 AM

Welcome to the dark side. Mwahahahaha *cough*

I remember those days, I am not afraid to admit I cried reading ex-M testimonials. They are like a ray of light when everything else is just a shitstorm of you identity crumbling around you.

Please write your own testimony when you get time!
- Cato
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #20 - February 02, 2011, 05:57 AM

Welcome Downunda

"I'm standing here like an asshole holding my Charles Dickens"

"No theory,No ready made system,no book that has ever been written to save the world. i cleave to no system.."-Bakunin
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #21 - February 02, 2011, 06:48 PM

I love Australians I think its because I love watching neighbours !!!

Welcome to the forum !!!!!

"its fashionable to be an ex Muslim these days"
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #22 - February 02, 2011, 07:25 PM

Welcome to the forum.

"Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so." -- Bertrand Russell

Baloney Detection Kit
- downunda
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #23 - February 03, 2011, 01:06 AM

haha im not Australian. I live in NZ.

Great news, just over the last few days I've discovered a few other ex-muslim atheists here. I'm certain that there are more around but are in the closet.
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #24 - February 03, 2011, 02:40 AM

Quote from: downunda on February 01, 2011, 02:01 AM
Btw.... are there any forum members here from Australia or New Zealand too? IF so please let me know - PM if need be

Quote from: downunda on February 03, 2011, 01:06 AM
haha im not Australian. I live in NZ.

Great news, just over the last few days I've discovered a few other ex-muslim atheists here. I'm certain that there are more around but are in the closet.

Hey, I was going to welcome you until you admitted you were a Kiwi.

Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West.
- downunda
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #25 - February 03, 2011, 02:54 AM

haha I couldn't take it anymore. I had to quickly clear it up that I'm not aussie! wouldn't want people thinking that
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #26 - February 03, 2011, 02:57 AM

osmanthus reaches for teh banhammer

I actually lived in the Land of the Soggy Grey Cloud for several years. Quite a nice place, even if they do take their rugby far too seriously.

Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West.
- downunda
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #27 - February 03, 2011, 03:28 AM

really? we've probably at least crossed paths then.

dude tell me about it! and we're hosting the rugby world cup later this year so everyone seems to be going all out for it in preparation
- osmanthus
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #28 - February 03, 2011, 03:52 AM

Mght have. I've been all over most of the North Island but never got down South. Too damned cold down there.

I don't mind the odd bit of rugby but I don't get upset when the All Blacks win. It's just a game. Too many Kiwis think it's a national disaster if they lose to Oz.

Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West.
- downunda
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Re: Greetings! Newbie here
Reply #29 - February 03, 2011, 04:14 AM

Yea same here, im in the North Island and ive seen most of it. I should get down to the South Island though its arguably the most beautiful place on earth.

The nation as a whole has matured over the last few years. Generally don't get too caught up with the All Blacks anymore. We have learnt from all the world cup failures for the last 20 years
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