The Rationalist Association has started The Apostasy Project — they’re trying to provide resources for people who want to leave their religion. As recent events in Bangladesh have shown, apostasy is regarded by some as a terrible crime.
If you can, help them out with a donation. Apostasy is something to praise and encourage!
Just as the religious have communities to support their believers, we can have communities also to support our non-believers.
It takes a lot of courage to become an atheist in Bangladesh, a lot more than it takes in London or Minnesota.
Along similar lines PBS just did a very good short documentary on people who are leaving the ultra-Orthodox cults in New York. It mentions Footsteps which provides resources and support to people who are trying to break away from the Charedi cults.
They don’t risk being lynched by mobs, but the stakes are high. Most are functionally illiterate and know practically nothing about how to survive in the real world. They realize they will almost certainly lose their jobs, their homes, their spouses, their children and their support network. Their families will suffer for having an apostate in the family. Their families are required to act as if they are dead.
In Sweden, kids who are religious will often lie and say they are not so other kids won’t look at them funny. Of course there are still religious people, but they are basically powerless politically. Hopefully some day Bangladesh will be able to break the spell. It is possible.
Apostasy in Islam does not derive from Mohammad. People were genuinely drawn to him and did not turn away. Why would they? They where so committed to him and stood so much to gain.
The problem set in when he died. Their allegiance was to the charismatic Mohammad. Now this upstart, Abu Bakr had taken his place, to whom (they felt) they owed no such allegiance. As a result many simply went their own way once again. Some others even styled themselves as the New Mohammad. To head them off, Abu Bakr invented the the death penalty for apostasy. And off came their heads.
Dude, I tried for years to get the archdiocese of Chicago to declare me apostate. They just ignored me completely. I never got a response from anyone at the archdiocese despite letters, emails and phone calls. THEY WON’T LET YOU LEAVE!
:-o