Do you have Questions about Islam ?

[robvalue]

If you were indoctrinated and threatened with hell and/or violence/punishment for even asking questions about religion, you have my sympathy. Such is often the way. It forced false truths into young minds so that even as adults they become too deeply ingrained to be distinguished from fantasy. Indoctrination is child abuse. I can only imagine how hard it must be to try and fight against something as harmful as that. If you weren't, and came by Islam through free choice, then you should find it easier to think about critically.

Two quick points:

(1) If something is true, it doesn't need threats to make it believable
(2) How can you possibly distinguish between perceived messages from god or whatever, from mental delusion? Someone shoots a guy and claims god was speaking to him, telling him to do it. What's the assessment?

I haven't seen any actual answers so far, just the usual apologetic spin and excuses. I'm not insulting you, I'm insulting your religion and your arguments. Sometimes it's the only way to get the point across. And I'm doing so with backed up arguments. And believe it or not, I have your best interests at heart. Fairy tails are fine, but when it comes to people being actually killed we have to stop worrying about being PC. I have no idea what kind of thing you expected us to ask, so I'm sorry if you've been disappointed. Imagine someone came to you and said you could ask them questions about santa claus, what would you say?

Say I'm a member of a chess club. I find out one day that there is a 1% group of people in my chess club who are going round killing people with giant chess pieces. I also find out that my chess handbook has clauses I wasn't aware of encouraging this kind of behaviour. What would I do?

I would leave the club. I would want nothing more to do with it. I would start my own chess club, with my own handbook. I could insert into my club the things that were good about the old one, and leave out all the horrific parts of my handbook which enabled the problem. I would make it very clear I am nothing to do with the other chess club, I would change the name, and I wouldn't just be a "moderate" member of the club, rolling my eyes at the more extreme members.

I appreciate that where Islam is concerned, leaving is not as simple as that. I understand the need to fake belief for self preservation, until such a time as you may get a chance for freedom. I get that, and I sympathize deeply with all the people in that situation. But I don't understand coming to an atheist forum and trying to defend Islam. This would be the place to be honest, to say all the things you can't say elsewhere.

But if you really do think Islam is good, then there is not much more I can say. I hope one day you will wake up and see that it's a horrific religion, as are most religions. It's based around control and fear, just like christianity, although in a more obvious way. Holy books are bullshit. They were written by dweebs a long time ago who didn't know shit except how to kill each other with rocks. If you think they are anything more than that, you have been brainwashed. You don't need the religion, you don't need the book. You are a human first, and if you have been made to feel that being a Muslim is part of your identity, you have been coerced like all the others, and it is an insult to your individuality.