Hello all

[muss]

Hello all,

I'm a 31 years old Egyptian born Canadian resident. I live in Toronto, Ontario and officially became an atheist at the age of 24. I grew up in a catholic/orthdox(coptic) family and lived in Egypt for about 9 years, so I also have a little background on Islam. My family immigrated to Canada and my mother began dragging us to all kinds of churches. I've been to methodist, baptist, catholic, orthodox, evangelical and united churches. I also entertained the idea of Mormonism when I was about 17 years old because of two well dressed guys who started talking to me in the street one day.

When I was younger I was very passionate about religion, mostly because of my mother's influence. As I grew older I started recognizing all the contradictions within the bible and the outright hypocrisy that religious people lived. I also realized that this hypocrisy wasn't really hypocrisy at all but the natural reaction to repressive thinking.

I was however lucky to have had an atheist childhood friend of amazing intelligence to grow up with. Our friendship helped create an outlet for my creative side which I am happy to have been born with. I started reading historical and pschological books, especially jungian psychology. I started seriously educating myself and now I'm at the point where I want to contribute in whatever way possible to help humanity see reality.

The most influential book I've ever read was Demain by Herman Hess. That book seriously set the stage for me. I am now reading Dawkins/Hitchens/Harris and enjoying them very much.

I came to this forum from an evolution vs. creationism forum that was highly biased in favour of theists so I left it looking for friendler and more interesting debates/environment. Sorry for the long intro but I like writing :). Looking forward to meeting you all.

[whoneedscience]

Welcome to our humble forum!

[Professor Chaos]

Welcome, muss!

[Rocketman the Sequel]

Hey --one more for the possibilty of a Toronto RA meet up.

Welcome.

[Irreligious]

Hello, muss. I already welcomed you in another thread.

I'm intrigued. My daughter is half-Egyptian,* though her mom was raised a nominal Muslim. That probably sounds bizarre, but since my ex-wife spent most of her childhood in the U.S., growing up in a typical suburban community, she didn't wind up especially devout.

Anyway, I imagine it must be pretty rough for the Coptics in Egypt, as I suspect it would be for any religious minority. Atheists, I imagine, are virtually nonexistent or hiding in plain sight. What does your family think about your skepticism, muss? Do they know?

*Oh, and my little girl (who's 21 now), was delivered by an OB-GYN who is Egyptian-Coptic. Just a little trivia.

[mmfwmc]

Hey, welcome to the forum. Don't mind the stains on the carpet.

Edit: What was the evolution/creation forum? That stuff is good to read before I play rugby.

[Rat Bastard]

Welcome, muss.

[muss]

It is rough for the copts in Egypt, they are definitely oppressed. My father is an active member of the Canadian Coptic Association.
Its interesting to hear that about your ex-wife. I have gotten to know many persian muslims and some Egyptian ones as well. The persian muslims were much more moderate than the Egyptian ones, who were outright fundamentalist (but there are all kinds).

My parents are college and university educated but are still old fashioned, so I avoid bringing up the topic of religion, which is almost impossible to do with middle eastern people. Its ingrained in their culture. They are aware of my atheism however as I am very vocal in my opinion of religion. Everytime the discussion of the middle east comes up I always mention how religion is the route of all the evil there and help educate them.
I was actually trying to reach Sam Harris to see if I can get a copy of his books in the arabic language so they can read.

[muss]

Thank you all for the warm welcome :)

[muss]

LOL at the rugby comment...at least you have an outlet :(

The forum is called EvC.

[Eva]

welcome, muss! post often!

[muss]

Hey I'd totally be up for a Toronto RA meeting. I've been looking for other atheists in my area..that was the original reason I started joining forums :)