What leaving actually costs
You lose nothing by walking away except superstition and other people's rules. There is only gain on the other side.
Identity
Religion by registration
Malaysian law makes every Malay a Muslim by definition. My family was registered at birth, none of us was ever asked, and there is…
“If I go through with this I lose my mother. That is not a theological problem, and no argument about the Qur’an touches it.”
You are right that no argument touches it, and anyone who answers this by handing you a verse has not heard what you said.…
“It is not only belief I would be giving up. It is Ramadan, the congregation, the people who came when my father died. I do not know who I would be without it.”
What you are describing is not a weakness in your reasoning. It is an accurate account of what a religion is. Islam is not…
“I did not choose any of this. It was on my identity card before I could read, and the first time I said the words I was a child repeating them.”
You are describing something real, and it is worth being precise about what it is, because the precision helps. A form recorded you as…
“I am afraid of what happens to me if I leave. I have read that the punishment is death, and the fear will not let go of me.”
Start with the part of this that concerns you tonight, because it can be answered plainly. Having doubts is not an offence anywhere on…
Are all non-Muslims damned
Islam teaches that every non-Muslim goes to hell, which is why teachers say so in school.
“My kindest friends were never Muslim. Am I supposed to believe they are all going to hell?”
Nobody is in a position to tell you where your friends are going, and anyone who claims to be is overreaching. Judgment belongs to…