I have left Islam.  I wanted to put this tactfully into my introduction but, it has been moved into a part of the forum which can only be accessed through search.

I don't know what else to say, really.

Welcome!

WiHeeeee.  

After seeing your earlier posts, it looks like you have gone full circle (like most of us), so you must have done a lot of thinking.  

I am really chuffed for you, and your journey will not end here.  You will probably have to take stock and reevaluate where you stand and explore new areas that you always wanted to do, but were forbidden by the religion.  

Do you think you were always a closet apostate, and what were the strongest arguments that led to your current stance?

Dont forget to keep us posted on you new life, with all of its trials & tribulations

Thank you everybody for your kind words.



I searched my soul for a long time, years I'm afraid I wasted in that searching.  In the end it was neither gradual nor sudden, it was just a facing up to a truth that I had known for a long time.

 

good question

No I was never a closet apostate.  I honestly think that if Islam had not been so full of homophobia that I couldn't argue against, even when I met muslims who tried.  I think I could have stayed muslim, I do not really know. 

Don't feel bad - on the contrary, you have much more strength than most Muslims who will never admit that their heart and mind contradict Islam.

It is the truth, and I've watched your videos and felt that you were telling the truth when you spoke about how Islam was man made.  Its a terrible travesty that so many good people live their lives in obedience to something so pointless.

Cool. Up is good, and a nice glass of plonk with dinner every so often is rather nice as well.



You'll get over it. At least you realised you were blithering. That's got to be good for your street cred. 

My muslim associates as you so belittlingly call them, will accept me just the way I am.  I feel very good and centred now.  Allah?  I think if he exists he is not quite the Allah of my childhood.

I did not mean to be belittling, I meant to be inclusive of your friends and everyone else you knew

Welcome Goldie to this side of the fence. I can relate to the feeling of wanting to have Islam be more accepting, more loving, more welcoming. I felt that way too... a long time ago. There's the heartbreak of facing the bitter truth that Islam (and religion in general) is all a man-made device, but there's also the exhilaration of freedom once you realize that you are free-er than you had been led to believe. I wish for you the best of energy in your journey ahead. I think you'll find this is just the beginning, not the end.

 

Congratulations Goldie, I know it wasn't easy but you honestly have made the right choice and come to the right conclusions. 

Dont they chant with the mantra: "we're here, we're queer?"

Maybe it's an ironic or sarcastic word, like when Aframs adopted the word "negro" for themselves.

Gay, bi and trans people use "queer" to describe themselves sometimes to (a) reclaim that word, and more importantly (b) because many of us find that the gender binary of male/female or gay/straight is not enough to describe the fluidity of sexuality. I use the word queer at times because I don't always feel comfortable using the word "bisexual" and yet I can't say I'm 100% homosexual either, so that leaves me with the option of using "gay" or "lesbian" when I am just not that easily definable. Sometimes, I do use the word lesbian and sometimes the word bisexual depending on the discussion and to make a point. But I also consider myself "queer" because the larger world does consider people like me, bi, poly, androgynous to be "odd" or "strange". "Bisexual" usually implies an equal divide or a heterosexual with homo tendencies. I'm more of a homosexual with hetero tendencies. I don't think they've come up with a word for that yet - a word that doesn't denigrate the reality of me into neat little boxes, that is.