I am an ex-Muslim from Pakistan (now an atheist). My path towards freedom from religion started when I was in 10th grade and 15 years old. I began to have much doubts concerning existence of god and the veracity of the attributes awarded to him. However, the news of my doubts spread among my class mates and I was beginning to be branded as some type of an infidel. Worse came when a religious teacher approached me to guide me towards the so-called right path (its almost a death sentence to be awarded as an infidel over here). However, I was able to keep out of further trouble owing to my good grades. At the same time however, I somewhat reverted back to faith due to pressure from peers and family.

The next phase began 4-5 years ago when I became acquainted with the works of great British philosophers like David Hume and Bertrand Russell. This phase was intoxicating and I began to feel the knots tied around myself from religious teachings begin to lose and the air of reason pouring in. I have never looked back since then and have observed a very significant increase in my happiness, reasoning capabilities, and love for my fellow beings.

My family are “followers of Ali”, but my parents soon became atheists so I grew up with atheist parents. Even my relatives which are still “followers of Ali” say they don’t take it too seriously, I believe its much easier for them with that label in Turkey compared to being an atheist over here. Two years ago, I was at a relative’s funeral where nobody said they thought that he is in heaven or he is watching us or any of those things. My father told me that none of our relatives would say such outrageous stuff without being ashamed of so much stupidity.

My mum told me that her grandma was a Sunni and she told her kids and grand kids about god and Satan. But as soon as her grandpa would hear that, he would always say “stop scaring the kids with that bullshit”.

I was lucky. I had to make my own decision after reading and talking to religious people. I even went to Church and got lessons at school. I went because of the stories I could listen to. For me, it was nothing other than a fairytale.

I was reading many books about different kind of religions and talking to many people. It took a while ’til I realized that, that I was an atheist. I don’t know that much about how life began (I’m not good in Biology) but even that what I understood made more sense then any religion that I know.

And just because I don’t have the answer, it doesn’t bother me. I can live much better not knowing than believing in the supernatural.

Most of my religious friends have a problem with me being too liberal and open minded. They don’t understand my thinking but at least they try.

I just try to live my life without doing harm to myself or others.