I was raised in a Muslim family, albeit not a religious one, thankfully. I never prayed 5 times a day, and neither did my younger sister or parents. In fact, I only prayed when we'd visit a religious relatives house, when I'd go with my dad to the mosque on random Fridays, or when it was Eid. Other than that, nothing. And I'm glad for that, because I think the lack of an overly-religious upbringing allowed me more 'freedom' to question Islam, and religion in general. But I guess it's easy for me to say that, because I don't know how I'd have ended up had my upbringing have been strict (in religious terms).
I only recently told my parents about my apostasy. My mother was hurt, but accepted the fact that I think for myself. She treats and loves me the same, but I think inside her she wishes I'd go back to Islam, and I feel like she ignores my atheism. Which is understandable, it's a better approach than cutting me off. My father was the same, but he still feels that I could become a Muslim again with some 'convincing'... in fact, tonight we discussed my apostasy, and he put forward a challenge to me: He'll find somebody knowledgeable, who will have to know the Koran inside out, and I'll sit down with him and put forward to him the questions I have which nobody can seem to answer. He told me he'll respect my decision when he sees for himself that somebody knowledgeable isn't able to answer my questions.
I'm really glad that my parents haven't reacted like a lot of Muslim parents do, and I attribute that to the fact that they were not strict Muslims. They are Muslims-in-name only. I think living in the western world obviously helps, I've lived in both Europe and the US, so I don't have experience of life in a strict Middle Eastern country, despite my heritage being from there.
I have a girlfriend who is culturally Jewish, but also an atheist. She too had the same questions as me, and luckily for her, she has a very accepting family. In fact, I had a lovely conversation with her mother about atheism and the Jewish belief that living a good life is more important than pledging allegiance to God. An amazing but unrelated fact, my girlfriend's grandparents survived the holocaust, and are still both happily married today. That always makes me smile.
Back to me, though, and I cannot ever go back to Islam. I felt a huge sense of relief when I became an apostate. I'm not a peaceful apostate, either. I want Islam to disappear, but I want Muslims to wake up and realise that their so-called religion of peace is really nothing more than the works of a power-hungry, sex-mad lunatic.
I don't want to write a long post, so if anybody has any questions or advice, please feel free to post. I welcome it all, after all that's why I signed up again. The level of knowledge on this forum is very impressive, and I want to be a more active member so I can learn from everybody here, and that will help me when I need to burst a few religious bubbles.
Thank you for reading!
P.S. - I should mention that politically, I identify as liberal. Very liberal. But I can't stand the fact that most liberals bend over backwards for Islam. They really do believe it's this beautiful, mysterious, religion of peace. It infuriates me... but I want to let you all know, that not all liberals are puppets for Islam!
