Hello all,

I've been an atheist for over 10 years and growing up in Nigeria, I spent the early part of my atheism in a serious depression because I couldn't come out to tell anyone how I felt. As a devoted Muslim, I had to lie and pretend to everyone that I was still one, even though I had changed. I had also done an Islamic marriage at the time(I was only 19) which had to be annulled after I publicly announced my "conversion" to atheism. For a while now I've been pondering on the philosophy of happiness/peace of mind and how religion falsely claims to have monopoly over this feeling. I remember the Quran verses that talk about how the unbelievers are never at rest. But these things are false.

Joy exists outside religion. In fact, this type of joy is the sweetest because it doesn't come at the expense of putting aside your rationality. As a Muslim, I couldn't understand why Allah would burn devoted Christians in hell for eternity; these people were obviously good people whose only crime was to be born into the Christian religion. How unfair. I knew that many of us justify wrong and outright evil teachings just because our religious books say so. Anyone willing to find happiness in religion has to suspend their reasoning and rationality. As an atheist now, I don't have to do that. I'm able to use my reasoning as well as empathy for my fellow man to decide what's good or bad.

Few years ago, I would debate and argue with Christians and Muslims but now, I've evolved beyond that stage. Such arguments are usually pointless; neither of us are ever able to reason with the other. What often happens is that the atheist checkmates the religious person and provides contradictions in the religion and the religious person says "yeah you're right. But let me just keep believing". So I don't see a value in this.

To keep the long story short, I wrote a book on the topic of happiness outside religion. It's short and direct. A mentor of mine has the following to say about the book:

"It is  a well written book, lucid and reflecting the authentic experience of an enterprising young Nigerian, who was brought up under the baneful influence of religion. I sincerely hope the book reaches a very wide audience, especially the Nigerian (and African) youth, who are struggling to jettison the superstitions with which they were brainwashed in their formative years. More grease to your elbow!  - Gilbert Alabi Diche, FRGS."

I've attached the table of content as well as the cover page of the book. If you're in Nigeria, you can get an e-book copy on Okada Books for only 1000 Naira. And if you're abroad, it can be purchased both as an ebook and paperback on Amazon.

Okada Books: https://okadabooks.com/book/about/detail/36315

Amazon: https://www.amazon.de/Ayo-Deji-ebook/dp/B08G8VVGXS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Joy+without+religion&qid=1598089743&sr=8-1

Send me a message if you face any challenges with purchasing the book. Thanks

All I see here is self deceit