the article "a call to the muslims of the world" was an interesting read. alot of what you said was accurate and striking. secularism is also a goal of many muslims that understand the impracticality of an islamic state. i am a theist who is practically a secularist in practicality since theism does not believe in revelation. i am also a former muslim (you can tell by my name "ismael") who is in dire need for communication with other "former muslims".

i left islam around five to six years ago and was a dis-oriented dog for a year or two (maybe more) due to renouncing a fundamental reason for living. i found a reason for continuing life in a goal. that goal was to remove from my closest friend the delusion that was instilled in him by society (through no fault of their own) and islamic molding. i have been teaching him the discrepancies between science and religion; i have even tried arguing for the subject of evolution (however it happened). but the idea that god's words (which it isn't) could be fallible is incomprehensible to my friend. i believe that without someone's help, i will not succeed. i have other goals as well now which continue to drive me, but i haven't given up on my friend.

i used to work in an audit firm while i was a muslim. then i left the job and stayed a bum for two years. i am now in college and have a fairly decent GPA average in the field of business administration i have many friends (most don't know i am a theist) and kill time with hobbies. a fairly good life. what is lacking is the support from family and friends on my (or lack of) ideology. i have many ideas but i dont know how original they are. i believe that the perspective of a person who was brought up with islam is different from other perspectives; and the perspective of a former muslim must be unique and (i believe) very anti-social because of the few common grounds with other perspectives; like ideas on how to secularize the islamic community.

the article "a call to the muslims of the world" had one interpretational mistake that i could find. the article read " And have sex with "boys like hidden pearls"". that aya was refering to hur al ain which are supposed to be virgins with a scent that can be smelt for forty years. and i don't think they are boys. in fact, whether the quran or hadeeth make out the hur al ain's sexuality at all is not in my knowledge. otherwise, i think the article deserves a standing ovation. :)

i would appreciate information on some kind of online community related to faithfreedom.org so i could participate (however mildly) in discussions that go on in related topic.

Dear Ismael,

Thank you for the email. Yes there is a fast growing ex-Muslim community that you can join. See the forum.

Used with permission from Faith Freedom