Hello athesist planet. Just lost my faith. Now What?

[The Grand Nudger]

 When I think about morality I tend to focus on sins (what is moraly wrnog). I don't focus on good deads because the motive to do good is always there no matter what kind of a person you are. You either do good deads to feel good or to make people like you. Both are positives as far as I'm concerned.

Back to the moraly wrong (sins) and I think about both personal and social sins

    Personal sins: What is it that you would never allow yourself to do even if no one is looking? and if you do it you will feel guilty and you will promise yourself not to do it again?
   
    Social sins: What is it that you would try not to do if someone is looking and even if you do it when no one is looking, you'd prefer that everyone should be stopped by society from doing it?

 
My question: if we didn't cheat one or two things from religion, how would we decide what's wrong?

I don't know which things you have in mind.  Religion has never been a requirement of my moral agency - but that's anecdotal.  Supposing that some people do need to cheat at whatever those things are, there's no shortage of religion in the world and nothing about being an atheist prevents you or anyone else who needs religion from picking one.

[The Architect Of Fate]

Hello Forum:

I'm now at the end of the process of losing my faith. I used to be a Muslim. Now, Who the hell knows??!   I from a very conservative religious country. It shall not be named (Hint: desert+oil) It took me five or six years to arrive here. I was on the fence for two years.
I was a very ideological Muslim. Although, I wasn't practicing much. However, I was very enthusiastic about "Islam and its glory".
Anyway, here I am today, writing in an atheist forum!
I need to hear from those who have been through this phase. What should I do now? I can't be "business as usual". What should I expect? How should I approach life now? The only approach I had my entire life is the Islamic religious approach. Now, How should I live my life? Where should I take my morals from? I don't think atheists have no morals BTW but I have no idea how do they approach morality.

Now, it seems like I have to rethink my whole life. My whole future. 

Keep in mind that I can't come out as an atheist, otherwise, I'm going to lose everyone I care about. Damn religion.

 

Anyone went through a similar experience and have any advice for me?

The truly wonderful thing about this is nothing is set .This own journey and won't be like anyone else's.But trust in yourself and you will pull through .

[Mister Agenda]

My deconversion was such a slow process (about 15 years from first doubts) that it wasn't traumatic at all; but my family is highly religious and if I were in your situation I would have had to keep it to myself. Fortunately in the USA all I have to worry about is near-constant reconversion attempts by certain family members when I visit them--which is why I rarely visit them. Welcome to our forum, Suz!

[Brian37]

My deconversion was such a slow process (about 15 years from first doubts) that it wasn't traumatic at all; but my family is highly religious and if I were in your situation I would have had to keep it to myself. Fortunately in the USA all I have to worry about is near-constant reconversion attempts by certain family members when I visit them--which is why I rarely visit them. Welcome to our forum, Suz!

That was about the same amount of years for me too. 

My advice to the OP is now that they have switched positions, read and learn and don't fear to get stumped by theists. If they argue something you don't quite get, pass their argument by other atheists and they will be happy to destroy the argument.

[Gwaithmir]

Explore the philosophy of Secular Humanism. 

[Aegon]

Hello Forum:

I'm now at the end of the process of losing my faith. I used to be a Muslim. Now, Who the hell knows??!   I from a very conservative religious country. It shall not be named (Hint: desert+oil) It took me five or six years to arrive here. I was on the fence for two years.
I was a very ideological Muslim. Although, I wasn't practicing much. However, I was very enthusiastic about "Islam and its glory".
Anyway, here I am today, writing in an atheist forum!
I need to hear from those who have been through this phase. What should I do now? I can't be "business as usual". What should I expect? How should I approach life now? The only approach I had my entire life is the Islamic religious approach. Now, How should I live my life? Where should I take my morals from? I don't think atheists have no morals BTW but I have no idea how do they approach morality.

Now, it seems like I have to rethink my whole life. My whole future. 

Keep in mind that I can't come out as an atheist, otherwise, I'm going to lose everyone I care about. Damn religion.

 

Anyone went through a similar experience and have any advice for me?

Hi.

I was raised Catholic, not Muslim, so I can't speak to some specifics or potential danger of "coming out" as a non-believer. But I think I understand the general feeling of losing your worldview. Transitioning from believing in God to not believing is world-shattering. Here is a quote from Pema Chodron that I like quite a bit:

The difference between theism and non-theism is not [necessarily] whether one does or does not believe in God. Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there's some hand to hold: if we just do the right things, someone will appreciate us and take care of us. . . Non-theism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves.

One could say you've been a bird tethered with a string. That attachment to the string has kept you safe, held you in the air, and you've relied on it. Now you've severed that string, so you feel as though you are crashing and burning. However, that is not the case. You just haven't yet realized you're capable of flight on your own.

Welcome to the forum.

[Abaddon_ire]

Hello Forum:

I'm now at the end of the process of losing my faith. I used to be a Muslim. Now, Who the hell knows??!   I from a very conservative religious country. It shall not be named (Hint: desert+oil) It took me five or six years to arrive here. I was on the fence for two years.
I was a very ideological Muslim. Although, I wasn't practicing much. However, I was very enthusiastic about "Islam and its glory".
Anyway, here I am today, writing in an atheist forum!
I need to hear from those who have been through this phase. What should I do now? I can't be "business as usual". What should I expect? How should I approach life now? The only approach I had my entire life is the Islamic religious approach. Now, How should I live my life? Where should I take my morals from? I don't think atheists have no morals BTW but I have no idea how do they approach morality.

Now, it seems like I have to rethink my whole life. My whole future. 

Keep in mind that I can't come out as an atheist, otherwise, I'm going to lose everyone I care about. Damn religion.

 

Anyone went through a similar experience and have any advice for me?

Simple. Now YOU tell you what do do and how to behave, not some imaginary beardy bloke in the sky.

[Agnostico]

When I think about morality I tend to focus on sins (what is moraly wrnog). I don't focus on good deads because the motive to do good is always there no matter what kind of a person you are. You either do good deads to feel good or to make people like you. Both are positives as far as I'm concerned.

Back to the moraly wrong (sins) and I think about both personal and social sins

Personal sins: What is it that you would never allow yourself to do even if no one is looking? and if you do it you will feel guilty and you will promise yourself not to do it again?

Social sins: What is it that you would try not to do if someone is looking and even if you do it when no one is looking, you'd prefer that everyone should be stopped by society from doing it?

My question: if we didn't cheat one or two things from religion, how would we decide what's wrong?

Hi Suz. I was raised as a Catholic and lost faith. I never told my family either but my life and the way I lived it didn't change at all
U seem to be going through the same questions about morality as I did and your final question is one that im sure many people would have pondered
Not believing in God is the only thing atheists have in common, there are various opinions on every thing else including morals.

I believe an immoral act is one that's done consciously and does harm. I think that's a good basis for personal morals
I believe societal morals are ones that are for the benefit of sustaining/growing a society

But leaving a religion doesn't mean u have to leave their morals and start again. U will find that most personal morals people have are the same ones found in religion anyway
U could take the morals that u question from Islam and analyse them, try understand why they're condemned by Islam, their pros/cons, etc and make your decision

The thing about all the worlds major religions is that they have most of the same morals that has seen their societies grow and become successful
I think u will keep most of your morals from Islam but we all have our own journeys so I wish u the best of luck with yours

[JohnMBauer]

Hello Forum:

I'm now at the end of the process of losing my faith. I used to be a Muslim. Now, Who the hell knows??!   I from a very conservative religious country. It shall not be named (Hint: desert+oil) It took me five or six years to arrive here. I was on the fence for two years.
I was a very ideological Muslim. Although, I wasn't practicing much. However, I was very enthusiastic about "Islam and its glory".
Anyway, here I am today, writing in an atheist forum!
I need to hear from those who have been through this phase. What should I do now? I can't be "business as usual". What should I expect? How should I approach life now? The only approach I had my entire life is the Islamic religious approach. Now, How should I live my life? Where should I take my morals from? I don't think atheists have no morals BTW but I have no idea how do they approach morality.

Now, it seems like I have to rethink my whole life. My whole future. 

Keep in mind that I can't come out as an atheist, otherwise, I'm going to lose everyone I care about. Damn religion.

 

Anyone went through a similar experience and have any advice for me?

Hi, and welcome to the forums.

You said that you weren't exactly a practicing Muslim, and now after five years or so (including two years of fence-sitting) you've lost your faith. I'm wondering if you'd be willing to share what happened during those five years that led to your sitting on the fence, and what brought you down from that fence onto the no-faith side.