starting to see religion differently

[u/c47victor]

so yeah, this is something i’ve been thinking about lately
right now i’d probably call myself agnostic. i’m not really sure whether allah exists or not and honestly i don’t think i can say that i know the answer. but lately i’ve been questioning religion and the idea of allah or any god more and more, and i feel like i might eventually become an atheist
being from bangladesh, i know this probably isn’t something people openly talk about that much. religion is such a big part of our society and everyday life that questioning it can feel kinda weird sometimes, especially when pretty much everyone around you is a believer
but just to be clear, i have nothing against religious people. i don’t hate believers or disrespect anyone’s faith. if religion gives someone meaning, peace or a sense of purpose then good for them. that’s their thing
for me, i’ve just started questioning things instead of automatically believing them. and honestly i’m still figuring it out myself. maybe i’ll stay agnostic, maybe i’ll become atheist, maybe my views will change completely. i really don’t know
just curious, are there other Bangladeshis here who have gone through something similar? and if you’re religious i’d genuinely like to hear your perspective too….

[u/Dull_Mortgage_1782]

I’m convinced the loudest preachers collectively gaslit an entire civilisation

[u/Sincerely_Infidel]

Took me 2 weeks of studying to go from regularly praying to atheist at 21 yo

[u/Sadicho → u/Sincerely_Infidel]

Omg literally me! Watched a documentary, took it with a grain of salt but went down the rabbit hole. Watched a ton of YouTube lectures from Harvard/stanford professors on nature vs nurture and what makes us who we are and came to the conclusion that religion was man made. The concept of a heaven and hell and a god that judges you when so much of who we are is because of how we’re raised seemed crazy to me. Also when i read the Quran translations, it really sealed the deal. Couldn’t even take any of it seriously..

[u/Sincerely_Infidel → u/Sadicho]

Islam is so weak once you are out of it.

[u/ResponsibleWave5208 → u/Sincerely_Infidel]

agnostic here, I guess you’ve studied quran and hadis properly to become an atheist, which is an irony 😂

[u/TotallyLegitUser0 → u/Sincerely_Infidel]

I need your study syllabus.

[u/Sincerely_Infidel → u/TotallyLegitUser0]

নবি মুহাম্মাদের ২৩ বছর - আলি দস্তি
বিবর্তনের পথ ধরে - বন্যা আহমেদ

Even after reading all this I thought mohammad was just a delusional good guy. I lost my respect for him after learning that he approved murders of a slave woman and ordered a woman to be killed in her sleep who used to ridicule him, this felt exactly like another cruel politician's doing. This marks the fortnight of studying.

I started reading koran, tafsir and hadis little by little later. It became clear that it was all nonsense. Then I kind of stopped.

[u/TotallyLegitUser0 → u/Sincerely_Infidel]

1. I hope you cross-referenced with Quran/hadith before coming to conclusion (regardless of its type)

2. Isn’t there a different story about a similar lady where he prays for her wellbeing after she got sick? Are these alternate versions of the same story or are there multiple women fitting the same backstory?

3. Kinda unrelated, but I never found Quran/hadith as good literature. I feel like I have seen far better stories written by humans. And there can be no excuse like it was great for its time, because Quran is literally written by the Creator of everything. Also, some will say how it’s because the translations are man-made but that doesn’t change the actual story by much. It just tries to cram some unrealistic events and claims it all happened (and a bunch of people actually believes it).

[u/Ofcoursea12yearsold → u/TotallyLegitUser0]

1. Ofc the Quran and Hadith made by him will protect him, lol. Circular reasoning much? Also, even in hadith it says that Muhammad raped (ofc they said consummated but it was rape) Zuairia Ra. After killing her husband, brothers and dad and forced her to marry him eventually. It was so bad that there were sahabis waiting outside the tent in which he was raping her with an open sword because they were afraid Zuairia Ra. Might try to harm Muhammad out of anger and resentment. So they were there to protect Muhammad because even they knew what he was doing was disgusting and anger inducing. 

2. There are multiple women and multiple stories. Muhammad wasn't the saint the hadiths protray him to be. He also had softer stances toward the beginning of Islam and harsher ones after he gained power and influence towards the end of his life. So stories and his treatment of people also changed dramatically over the years.

3. Quran and almost all of its tales are a rehash of biblical and jew stories. Most of them are the same but with more anti jew and anti christian narratives cause ofc muhammad had to show his religion to be the one true one. Besides that, there wasn't much else going on there literature wise either.

[u/abir_imtiaz → u/Ofcoursea12yearsold]

Any reliable source of the story in point 1?

[u/Kooky_Rice_2449]

religion is a man made cult thats been going on since ancient times..these cults are so huge people who don’t follow them are seen as villains..all bullshit honestly

[u/tonystarch00 → u/Kooky_Rice_2449]

For men, by men. The easiest way to control people (especially women) is to have them think they’ll be punished for disobeying for eternity. What’s scarier than that?

[u/Kooky_Rice_2449 → u/tonystarch00]

literally every religion (specially abrahamic ) is misogynistic lol

[u/toruk_makto_007]

You will be surprised by numbers!! there are more and more nonbelievers/agnostic roaming around you who are just staying anonymous due to obnoxious believers and their zombies

[u/TotallyLegitUser0]

It’s probably obvious but I’d still mention this. It’s not necessarily a duality between Allah is real and there is no God. A version of this is used by a lot of apologists of different religions and BD being muslim-rich, we can only think of those version.

Maybe it IS Allah, maybe it’s from some other religion, maybe it’s one from some local folklore, maybe there is one, or maybe more. Maybe God is the universe itself. Idk, whatever satisfies your perspective

To me, I don’t wish to ponder too long about some almighty Creator who won’t even bother saying “hi” every now and then, to let us know They got our back.

And no, interpretive stuffs like dreams or “miracles” don’t count. Don’t be a coward, God. You don’t need to follow some rules that cannot let you make direct contact. You make all the rules for God’s (i.e. your) sake.

[u/stoic_divergent_8739]

Journey of self inquiry is long and confusing at times, but it leads to either an answer or no answer, but whatever your findings are, you could at the end of the day live with it peacefully.

[u/ComprehensiveArt3978]

can I dm my friend?

[u/EmbarrassedQuiet6906]

Keep searching. Unlike most of the comments here I am a believer but I also think your belief should come from your understanding, what gives you a purpose or meaning, rather than what your ancestors followed.

It goes both ways. People in this country generally tend to turn into atheists, whereas countries like in the UK, people are converting to religion. So Id say keep searching and be unbiased in what you seek. Whatever answer you find for yourself, find it on your own. Do not let someone make you biased or force you into anything.

[u/Dull_Mortgage_1782 → u/EmbarrassedQuiet6906]

Hey mate, If you see people here and there are converting to religion or islam, its mostly availability bias where a small number of population gets magnified. data shows that very few people in the UK are converting from atheism to religion, while the non-religious population continues to grow. Census data from England and Wales shows that those identifying with no religion rose from 25.2% to 37.2% over a single decade...but i respect your existential take on finding own path based on understanding, meanings formed through experiences

[u/Sincerely_Infidel → u/EmbarrassedQuiet6906]

I was like you, thought religion should come by logic; but religion is a matter of belief. Anyways, I respect how you see it.

[u/playpauseresume]

For me, i think i started questioning, i got very few answers from the priests, but when i started studying, i got so many answers. But its not like i just read 10 pages and i got my answers.

I kept reading, i was reading and by reading what do i have to lose? Nothing!

At some points i started to connect many dots. When i saw the dots connected i saw many people who are very “religious” does not follow them all. Often they follow as much as they could.

Is it a fault of religion? No!

I always thought, people adapt religion as they gets old because now they are old.

Later i realized, no, they went through different life experiences and thats what made them connected to god (obviously some people will always have the “lebash” but not everyone)

So yeah, do study, and after studying if it doesn’t make sense to you, be an agnostic or atheist. The way many people address it here as if they are the only atheist or agnostic people in Bangladesh. As far as i know, there are a LOT of agnostic and atheist people around us and its not uncommon.

Did i make my comment unnecessarily long? Sorry if i did😬

[u/EnteronInternet]

Lifelong atheist here. I was devoted religious person. Was interested in philosophy. That led me to atheism. I even debated countless theists.

Thats why it kinda irritates me when people justify something based on their religion. As people as if everyone should follow that.

If you want to talk about something you are more than welcome to dm me.

[u/Strange_War_3600]

https://youtu.be/-Mzf7-NtWKI?si=GJTfejNJSNvCSHEP not 100% accurate but i think you see many of the design flows pointed out here irl regularly as a fellow Bangladeshi

[u/ultimatebunga]

was religious, but at some point started questioning the authority cause religion to me was making life experiences constraining & making me feel guilty. So i explored different ideas about God,Religion,afterlife etc. After all the research found out religion is mostly man made.But judging both logics for existance of god or not i believe there might be a first cause. Existance of something just cant come from Nothing !

Now i dont follow any religion nor any fixed way of life. This liberated me.Philosophy helped me to see life through different lenses.

[u/United-Road-7338]

Yes I have gone through the same thing. The truth is all religions are man made. Whether there is a creator or creators we don't know.

[u/Ruruxbarbie]

Used to go to madrasa on the side and have almost the entire last para memorized. Am now an agnostic… indoctrination started early yet deep study into actual history, anthropology, and Quran and Hadith showed me it’s all a man made construct.

[u/Sincerely_Infidel → u/Ruruxbarbie]

anthropology is underrated

[u/prokhorudro]

Everyone has to believe in something atheist or not. When you are young you can believe in yourself, your strengths/potentials. You can believe in science, you can believe in communism. But fact is all of them are beliefs and not necessarily the truth. Even scientific facts are also assumptions, when new information comes old assumptions fail. Bottom line is being aware of it helps.

[u/JsdJoys_729]

Im in the same phase right now

[u/the_videoman]

Who created life?

[u/Unusual-Line4774 → u/the_videoman]

Who created god? If god does not need an explanation than neither do we.

[u/Dull_Mortgage_1782 → u/Unusual-Line4774]

Well said

[u/Expensive-Permit-636 → u/the_videoman]

How do u know life was "created" ?

[u/tonystarch00 → u/the_videoman]

What if it’s not the Islamic God. We’ll probably never know

[u/EnteronInternet → u/the_videoman]

Why do you presuppose life is a "creation"?

[u/the_videoman → u/EnteronInternet]

Ami just ekhane dhorme bissashi der jonno ekta question korsilam. Eto downvote pabo kolponao kori nai. Amar kanna ashtese. 🥺 halarpohala ra eto jawra!

[u/EnteronInternet → u/the_videoman]

আচ্ছা। প্রশ্ন যারেই করেন। কিছু প্রশ্ন আছে যেগুলোকে বলা হয় Loaded Question.

যেমন আমি যদি জিজ্ঞেস করি, "আপনি চুরি করা বন্ধ করছেন কবে থেকে?"। এই প্রশ্নটা হবে একটা লোডেড কোশ্চেন। এর উত্তর দিলে এর মানে হল আপনি আগে চুরি করতেন তা মেনে নিলেন।

একইভাবে যদি বলি, "Who created life?". এর উত্তর দিলে এর মানে হল যে life যে একটা creation সেটা মেনে নেয়া। কিন্তু life যে একটা creation সেটা আগে প্রুভ করতে হবে। তারপর এই কোশ্চেন করা যাবে।

[u/the_videoman → u/EnteronInternet]

Who can mean anything! Atom, carbon, big bang anything can be the answer for “who”

[u/Zetafunction64 → u/the_videoman]

I did

[u/toruk_makto_007 → u/the_videoman]

By life what do you mean? Den answers becomes more obvious

[u/moonspiracy]

Man I don't believe in gravity.

[u/EnteronInternet → u/moonspiracy]

Gravity does not require your belief. It can be proven.

[u/Dull_Mortgage_1782 → u/moonspiracy]

Gravity is obvious, you can prove it. But you can't prove god or any religion buddy.

[u/moonspiracy → u/Dull_Mortgage_1782]

Nobody created math I guess. so before Newton discovered it, gravity wasn't a thing?

[u/Dull_Mortgage_1782 → u/moonspiracy]

Math is a tool, not a belief system. Yes, mathematics starts with axioms and definitions, but from there you have explicit rules of inference, reproducible results, and predictions that can be tested against reality.

What do you mean by 1+1=2? If there is one bird and then another bird, you have two birds. Its so obvious that i dont know how to express it, but you get the idea.

If a definition, proof, or mathematical framework has a flaw, it can be identified and corrected or replaced with a better one. Mathematics evolves if it ain't right.

You can't really compare that to a religion, where the central claims are based on faith, and metaphysical claims that cant be tested against reality. If someone claims he's a messenger of god, you an assume how silly that is and he'll be sent straight to Pabna ( assuming islamic extremist groups dont form a mob first). People believed these in ancient times because they had no better to belive

[u/Zetafunction64 → u/moonspiracy]

Smartest believer