Seun:
Religious People Are Suffering & They Need Our Help

People often ask outspoken atheists why they like to argue with religious people. "If you don't believe in God", they ask, "why do you spend so much time attacking people's religious beliefs?" They often respond by saying, "religious people keep trying to impose their religious beliefs on us through evangelism and politics, so we have to defend ourselves." Atheists who don't feel threatened usually choose to remain silent. I used to be a pretty quiet atheist myself, until I noticed something about religious people that I hadn't noticed before. Religious people are suffering!

Religion is not a harmless delusion. It's not a benign folly that merely wastes people's time. It's a malignant malady that systematically robs the majority of humanity of their freedom, pleasure, joy, comfort, knowledge, intelligence, health, money, lives, and much more. It would be selfish of us as atheists who are free from religion not to make every effort to free people from religion so that they can have much better lives.

Many religious people are not allowed to have blood transfusions. This means thousands of religious men, women and children have died from treatable medical conditions, such as pregnancies with any kind of complications, non-fatal car accidents, treatable gunshot wounds, etc. simply because they are not allowed to accept blood transfusions. So many children have become orphans needlessly; so many men and women became widows and widowers; so many fathers and mothers lost their children. All because of a religious rule that make no sense at all.

Many religious people are forbidden by their religions from enjoying most of the good things in life. Things like secular or instrumental music, fine art, poetry, sculpture, owning dogs, wearing make-up, friendship with the opposite sex, eating ram meat, eating sausages, pleasuring yourself or the opposite sex, watching fantasy movies or reading fantasy novels like harry potter, making friends outside the religion, dancing, tattoos, playing ludo because it relies on luck, barbie dolls, sexy clothes etc. Can you imagine what your life would be like if you had to forgo most of these wonderful things? Horribly boring. You'd probably kill yourself. I guess that's why many religious people are suicidal and violent.

Most religious people believe in the afterlife. As a result, instead of focusing on the current life and making it as enjoyable as possible for themselves, their friends, and family members, they often endure miserable lives in the hope that they'll be rewarded after they die. An extreme case of this is the case of suicide bombers and religious fighters who embrace violent deaths for the sake of an imaginary paradise.

Many religious people are pressured to give a sizable proportion of their income to the religious establishments they worship with. Poor people are taught that the best way to get rich is not to save their money and invest in education and entrepreneurship, but to "sow" it by giving it to their rich religious leaders who will use it to live flamboyantly, and build religious monuments to attract more cash cows. When this stupid idea of "sowing"doesn't make the poor people rich, they are told that it's because they don't have faith, have sin in their lives, etc.

Many religious people are made to believe that the secret to good health and healing is prayer, having been brainwashed by dishonest sermons and misleading testimonies. When they have health problems, instead of going to good hospitals, they embark on prayer and fasting. When their friends slump due to heart attacks or strokes or seizures, they start praying on them instead of rushing them to good hospitals where they can get competent medical help. People have died of curable diseases like malaria because they didn't accept treatment until it was too late.

Many religious people are tolerant and liberal by nature, but due to certain verses in their holy scriptures, they feel that they must be intolerant of various groups of people that God supposedly doesn't like, such as lesbians and transexuals. They are against abortion, which they think is murder, but also against sex education, which reduces abortion rates dramatically, because they think it may encourage premarital safe sex. As a result their daughters end up getting pregnant outside wedlock, having illegal abortions, and dying despite their opposition to abortion.

Many religious people are women, and it sucks to be them because the scriptures of the major religions are clearly sexist. One scripture claims that women must be quiet and submit to men because man were created first and woman came from man, which is rather suspicious because in real life it's women who give birth to men. Another scripture proudly asserts that woman are deficient in intelligence and piety. There are almost no female prophets, apostles or disciples. The few famous women in major scriptures are famous not for personal exploits but for giving birth to important men, marrying them, or leading them astray (Eve, Jezebel). Religious women can't live up to their full potential.

And don't even get me started on the horrible treatment of "demon-possessed" people (the mentally ill) and "child witches".

Clearly, religious people are suffering. Our parents, siblings, and children. Our friends, crushes, and admirers. Our colleague, bosses, and employees. To save them, we who are atheists must come out of our closets and start speaking out; challenging them and educating them.

Seun Osewa just seeing this today saw that it's about 4 years you posted this but In Sha Allah (By the Creators will) You will see the truth and be a Muslim here are the answers

On the personal or individual level, one doesn’t have to venture far to realize that God does exist. Just look into yourself, you don’t have to be a scientist but if you are then you’ll appreciate more the construction of the body; how it is made up of many cells. One cell becomes a cell for sight and the other for hearing; it’s amazing. How does the brain operate? The circulatory system? The digestive system? The nervous system? Such coordination and beauty [is shown through their functioning]. This shows that these things didn’t come to be in a haphazard way, there must have been a deliberate design behind them. So if you want to find God then look into yourself. The Quran says, “By looking into yourselves, you will find evidence to the presence and powers of God.”

In another verse it even says, “Do they not reflect in their own minds?”Quran 30 verse 8 In fact, if one really divorces himself from any prejudice caused by societal pressures one way or the other, or the worship of science as the ultimate thing, if one utilizes science in the proper way, you wouldn’t have to look at the body as a whole, just start analyzing one single organ and see how it works. Like some scientists would tell you that in order to duplicate the digestive system you’d need a huge laboratory and still it wouldn’t operate as efficiently as a naturally created organ would such as the stomach. We have acids in our stomachs that can erode metal but it doesn’t hurt us. How could that be haphazard? If one aspect of that was developed by chance would everything else falling in line and falling together also happen by chance?

Let’s move on to beyond ourselves, to find further evidence, the Quran also implores people to consider and to think. Take one aspect that many people think about today as very fashionable, like the ecological balance for example. Many people would take that as very clear evidence again that there is a design in this universe; vegetation as it relates to animal life and to human life; and the various atmospheric layers that we have. Everything is put together to sustain human life. If you look into the Quran, you find this mentioned. In one verse, in the Quran, it says, “God created everything in exact proportion.” (16:25) This is a very important term “in exact proportion” it’s not just that He created but that there is a deliberate design behind putting all of these things together.

In another verse, when people look at the whole scheme of creation, it says, “Were they created from nothing or are they themselves the creators?” No one claims that he’s created from nothing nor can he claim that he is the creator [of the heavens and earth]. Then the verse continues, “Or did they create the heavens and earth?” No one claims that. Then it says, “Nay but they see not.” (52: 35-36) So the science is there. It’s whether we apply it in the right place and in the proper way or not that makes the difference.

Finally, if you move into what I would call the third circle, not just looking into ourselves or the environment around us but looking into the whole cosmic order, again there is a design. The planets. The solar system. The way everything is coordinated. The distance between the sun and the earth, which if decreased may burn everything and if decreased everything would freeze. This is all deliberate. The succession of day and night, the circulation or changes of seasons, which has very important relevance to the lives of the people, to vegetation, and to animal life; all of these beautiful things that we are in awe at in the universe, we look at them with great admiration, definitely show that there is a design behind them and as is obvious any design needs a designer or creator for it. May Allah guide those who overcome their pride and embrace truth and humility to the true religion of peace Islam. Amin