so I've decided to leave Islam

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I knew this thread wouldn't be complete without The_Face_of_Boo.

I'm agnostic and so are parents and sister, but there are a lot of devout Christians in my extended family. They have never once tried to convert me or impose their beliefs and I was taught that a person's religion was a private matter not to be argued about. That's part of the reason why I could never be one of those aggressive atheists who say religious people are stupid, etc., because I know that's not true.

Don't argue about religion or politics in polite company is what my dad taught me. I would never criticize or ridicule someone's beliefs UNLESS they try to impose them on me or others or enact them into law.

I still remember the very moment when I decided to finish with Christianity - I was raised as a Catholic kid and pretty much all my friends were Catholics too (I grew up in Poland). We had religion classes in secondary school and one day I just stood up, muttered "I won't be listening to that nonsense any more" and went straight to the priest-teacher and told him to remove me from the list of kids in the register for good. One girl followed me (she is one of my best friends still) and we just left, like that, wow, I felt free!

I'm one of those people who don't need religion in their lives at all. I can't prove that gods don't exist, so my opinion is - they might do, but I don't care. I respect all people's private beliefs (gods, angels, fairies, demons...) but I'm very much against any organized religion. I also don't like militant atheists who think any sort of belief is stupid and believers are silly inferior human beings.

When I was a teen I've been drawn to Wicca as it's so very much connected to seasons, harvest, Nature, celebrating the world we see here and now, but I couldn't truly believe in any of the gods or spirits of the dead or any afterlife.

That sounds familiar. In a lot of ways, I still have a christian morality, in the sense that I rebuilt a lot of my personal sense of ethics from the ground up, but some things didn't seem to need changing so I more or less left them as they were. Also, knowing the bible is essential to understanding lots of cultural references, so it's a part of my vocabulary.

It sounds like you have the support of people around you.

I am glad to live in a place where I am protected by freedom of religion, even though it is currently under attack. Everyone in this world should have that right.

One word sums it up, Trump.

It would be wiser not to tell everyone though especially distant relatives. Otherwise you will listen a lot of lectures and maybe even hostility.

For me, only my parents/sibling, and the girl who was about to become my gf (long story), and other atheist buddies know.

My coworker is an atheist former Muslim too, he is much more vocal about it - but he moved to a Christian area for quite long and been in a long relationship with a Christian.

I was born into a united Methodist family. I left the religion when I was younger. I still get along with the family, my dad occasionally makes jokes about it. I bow my head in prayer on holidays usually if we are at a friends house. I am an agnostic atheist now and love reading about science.

OP I hope you find a religion fit for you.

I saw that you replied, MushroomPrincess, but it seems to have been deleted. Message me on Facebook if there's something you wanted to talk about. Happy birthday, by the way