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Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by Annunaki(m): 3:28pm On Nov 25, 2015
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — In this country known as the cradle of Islam, where religion gives legitimacy to the government and state-appointed clerics set rules for social behavior, a growing number of Saudis are privately declaring themselves atheists.

The evidence is anecdotal, but persistent.


“I know at least six atheists who confirmed that to me,” said Fahad AlFahad, 31, a marketing consultant and human rights activist. “Six or seven years ago, I wouldn’t even have heard one person say that. Not even a best friend would confess that to me.”

A Saudi journalist in Riyadh has observed the same trend.

“The idea of being irreligious and even atheist is spreading because of the contradiction between what Islamists say and what they do,” he said.

The perception that atheism is no longer a taboo subject — at least two Gulf-produced television talk shows recently discussed it — may explain why the government has made talk of atheism a terrorist offense. The March 7 decree from the Ministry of Interior prohibited, among other things, “calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based.”

The number of people willing to admit to friends to being atheist or to declare themselves atheist online, usually under aliases, is certainly not big enough to be a movement or threaten the government. A 2012 poll by WIN-Gallup International of about 500 Saudis found that 5 percent described themselves as “convinced atheist.” This was well below the global average of 13 percent.

But the greater willingness to privately admit to being atheist reflects a general disillusionment with religion and what one Saudi called “a growing notion” that religion is being misused by authorities to control the population. This disillusionment is seen in a number of ways, ranging from ignoring clerical pronouncements to challenging and even mocking religious leaders on social media.

“Because people are becoming more disillusioned with the government, they started looking at the government and its support groups as being in bed together and conspiring together against the good of the people,” said Bassim Alim, a lawyer in Jeddah.

“When they see the ulema [religious scholars] appeasing the government,” he added, “people become dismayed because they thought they were pious and straightforward and just. “

“I believe people started being fed up with how religion is really controlling their life and how only one interpretation of religion should be followed,” said activist Fahad AlFahad.

Together, the appearance of atheists, a growing wariness of religious controls on society, as well as the continuing lure of jihad and ultraconservatism signal a breakdown in the conformity and consensus that has marked the Saudi religious field in the recent past. It is becoming a more heterogenous and polarized faith scene.

“The mosques are full but society is losing its values. It’s more like a mechanical practice, like going church, you have to go on Sunday,” said a former employee of state media. “We no longer understand our religion, not because we don’t want to. But because our vision of it, our understanding of it, has been polluted by the monarchy…[and]…by the official religious establishment that only measures religion by what the monarchy wants and what pleases the monarchy.”

The growing skepticism about religion and clerics is more visible nowadays because of social media outlets, including tweets, blogs and Facebook pages.

Here are three illustrative tweets from Saudis:

— Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahad has been tweeting nonstop abt God. I pity his disconnectedness from today’s public. It’s not the 1980’s. Pathetic

— Because our illusion that our version of Islam is the only correct one needs to be washed away

— Could the ulema issue a fatwa against domestic violence? I mean the fatwa committee has prohibited playing Resident Evil 

At the same time, however, there is a countervailing trend in that some young Saudis are joining radical Islamist and jihadi movements, a trend reinforced by the war in Syria.

“When the Arab Spring started, young religious people were asking about Islam and democracy,” said Saud Al Sarhan, director of research at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh. “But now they are just asking about Islam and jihad, after what is going on in Syria.”

This attraction towards militant ultraconservatism is also apparent in the activities of unregulated religious vigilantes. Even as the government’s own religious police have come under stricter controls, these bands of young religious “volunteers” attack social gatherings to stop what they deem as prohibited activities, including music, dancing and gender mixing. In one famous incident in 2012, these “volunteers” raided the annual government-sponsored cultural festival known as Janadriya, where they clashed with security forces.

For more: http://www.salon.com/2014/06/12/atheism_explodes_in_saudi_arabia_where_just_talking_about_atheism_is_illegal_partner/
Re: Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by obinnashady(m): 3:40pm On Nov 25, 2015
No small chops..next time,they'll be in the news dead
Re: Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by Annunaki(m): 4:11pm On Nov 25, 2015
Despite the foolishness in atheism tongue it's still better than worshipping satan in disguise aka allahh.

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Re: Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by Annunaki(m): 9:03am On Dec 11, 2015
It's no surprise that large numbers of people are becoming atheist, a religion cannot be as empty, foolish and shallow as islam and people will not start questioning it especially in this information era we now live in. The minute a muslim starts using his brain and start asking the right questions about his religion, it is highly likely he will reject islam.

Islam could get away with it's lies and deceit for centuries because knowledge was limited but today information is at everybody's finger tips and glaring inconsistencies in islam are being exposed.
Re: Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by Nobody: 2:43pm On Dec 11, 2015
Annunaki:
It's no surprise that large numbers of people are becoming atheist, a religion cannot be as empty, foolish and shallow as islam and people will not start questioning it especially in this information era we now live in. The minute a muslim starts using his brain and start asking the right questions about his religion, it is highly likely he will reject islam.

Islam could get away with it's lies and deceit for centuries because knowledge was limited but today information is at everybody's finger tips and glaring inconsistencies in islam are being exposed.
Same can be said of Christianity. Twin evil brothers, seeds of Abraham the wretch.

1 Like

Re: Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by Annunaki(m): 3:04pm On Dec 11, 2015
sonOfLucifer:

Same can be said of Christianity. Twin evil brothers, seeds of Abraham the wretch.

Not surprised at your daft comment considering the fact that allahh is lucifer in disguise.

1 Like

Re: Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by Nobody: 4:41pm On Dec 11, 2015
Annunaki:


Not surprised at your daft comment considering the fact that allahh is lucifer in disguise.
I wonder how you figure that out.
Re: Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by AllNaijaBlogger(m): 4:52pm On Dec 11, 2015
sonOfLucifer:

I wonder how you figure that out.


wassap?
Re: Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by Nobody: 4:54pm On Dec 11, 2015
AllNaijaBlogger:



wassap?
I'm great. How you doing, bro?
U on fifa16 ps3?
Re: Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by AllNaijaBlogger(m): 4:57pm On Dec 11, 2015
sonOfLucifer:

I'm great. How you doing, bro?
U on fifa16 ps3?


ps3??
Bros, this is 2015 almost entering 2016. Homies are on ps4.

Do you really know me?
Re: Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by Nobody: 5:07pm On Dec 11, 2015
AllNaijaBlogger:



ps3??
Bros, this is 2015 almost entering 2016. Homies are on ps4.

Do you really know me?



cheesy

PS4 is boring. tongue

@bold: Na, why?
Re: Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by AllNaijaBlogger(m): 5:09pm On Dec 11, 2015
sonOfLucifer:


cheesy

PS4 is boring. tongue

@bold: Na, why?




The atheist who cried wolf.

wink
Re: Atheism Explodes In Saudi Arabia Despite State Ban by Nobody: 5:19pm On Dec 11, 2015
AllNaijaBlogger:



The atheist who cried wolf.

wink
grin grin

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