Location: Lebanon.

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I say, 26 - male - milky way galaxy

When traveling around the Muslim deserts, visiting the Jewish and Christian parts of Israel, and the Christian parts of Lebanon, is like traveling to another dimension. They are spots of westernized civilization in an otherwise inhospitable area.

Officials in each country tried to steer me to the sights they wanted me to see. I wanted to see reality and had no problem losing my official guides and getting local guides to show me around.

Wandering around in the middle of many of these Muslim countries, I met some of the poorest of the poor. I found many cave dwellers, including those who dug straight down and then sideways to make caves. These people were proud of their trash can lids that served as doors and their soup can chimneys that let the smoke out. They said their lives were better than the people who live in the dumps, eating the refuse of their betters, and recycling anything they can. The people living in the cemeteries, were proud to live in the crypts beside the bones of their ancestors, because they had solid roofs over their heads. They say they keep the cemeteries, clean and honor the dead.

All of the poorest of the poor were ignored by the rest of the people around them. The rich farmers did not care where their farmhands lived. The people who lived in apartments, and houses, and mansions, did not associate at all with those financially above or below them except in some of the shops. The more wealth, the rarer you environment was, unless you chose to go down to visit with the commoners.

In the cities, there was always an air of watching and waiting for the next bad thing to happen. The police had partial control. The tribal leaders had partial control. The religious authorities had partial control. The cracks between the controlling factions were huge and lawless. Distrustful, armed people were mixed in with the defenseless poor.

Visiting the beaches, cafes, nightclubs, and restaurants in Beruit and Tel Aviv was like visiting an oasis for my sanity. The destitute and illiterate masses were nowhere to be seen. Clean, happy, well dressed people were everywhere. People were polite and helpful to each other. Outside of these slices of paradise, the heavily armed trouble makers wait for their chance to come in and attempt to destroy the happiness.

The only time most of us get a glimpse of that part of the world, is when the trouble makers succeed in destroying a small part of paradise. We see normal looking shopping and eating areas that were destroyed by angry people. We see normal people crying over their losses. We see the poorest further dispossessed in retaliation. We see more people crying over their losses. We see religious zealots encouraging further destruction in retaliation of retaliation. We see civic leaders, some unable and some unwilling to end the ugliness.

Most people online have no idea that your slice of paradise even exists.

This happens and it happens a lot , as an atheist ex-muslim .....ummm ...I am not feeling any shame reading this because it's true. However, the guy must be a really good pretender and 'womeniser' to be able to deceive a some girl (unless if the girl is really fool) which an autistic like me would suck in that . Not all guys from islamized cultures do that but also many guys from poor countries like Mexico , cuba , african countries try to use this trick.

A piece of advice: don't ever get engaged with a foreigner without the citizenship , there's no way to trust him as he might be a really good actor.

My uncle M lives in australia has married a British Australian women but she only accepted to marry him after he gets the citizenship , and so he did : he waited more than 5 years and got the citizenship and then they got married her and now they have 3 children. That proves that he never had the intention to marry her for the citizenship.

Another thing you should be aware about: Be really careful for the strong muslim believers . Usually , the more believer are the more UNETHICAL are. This uncle was always different than the other uncles (of mother side) , he was always a loner , the smartest and no-religious , he even changed his name Moammad to another name ,I believe he's atheist but he fears to declare it to the whole family ...like me (but my parents know) , he even chose to live in another city far away from the Shiite Lebanese ghetto , I highly respect him ...he's my favorite uncle.

While the other uncles are Hezbollah supporters , living in shiite ghetto in Australia , rotting there with their own hatred with their family ...getting in troubles... I pity them.

The Christian/Druze and some of no-religious Sunnite regions (ie.Beirut) are the best parts of Lebanon, most shiites are all influenced by a fanatic ideology and their regions sucks ...same for the sunnite villages.

There are 3 reasons why Christian/Druze/Jewish regions are usually better than muslims in Lebanon:

1-West Influence : Christians are more influenced by the west culture because of their common religion they share with , Catholics are influenced by the European civilization , Protestants are influenced by US and Orthodoxes are influenced by Russia.

2- Religion: Islam is a religion of death , Islam is focused mostly on death and on the reward after death ....that's why religious muslims don't appreciate life enough, don't take care of their regions , they only take VERY care of their own hygiene but not of the city/village's hygiene they live in ...because they value life cheaply that's why they don't really care of quality of their life and they look mostly toward the afterlife.

3- Education : Christians and druzes in Lebanon and some of the new modern Muslim Sunnites (Future movement) are more educated than Muslims BECAUSE they appreciate life and the quality of life more than them. Education brings wealth and wealth brings a more appealing region.

LOL
lepetitprince , hey relax man lol
I agree with you in everything (as an ex-muslim and ex-atheist my self) but notice you are speaking with western mentality that rarely know about religions, they would think that you are a fanatic brainwashed atheist lol and get scared of you lol

In response to the original post - I think it depends who you're talking to as to why they stop. If it's girls looking for a boyfriend, most would want someone fairly local so that's probably why. If not then it's likely uneducated people influenced by the negatives from the different sides of the media.

About the middle east - I think if the context of the term is political then it includes Egypt, if it's geographical then it doesn't - Egypt is in Africa.

I'm curious as to what can sway someone from knowing the truth about religion to believing in one?

but you said that you're Coptic , I am not knowledgeable about the Copt 's history but isn't 'Coptic' an Ethnic word besides its definition of 'Christian Egyptian' ? The Grec Orthodoxes/Grec Catholics in Lebanon are two sect of the same Ethnic group and I am sure that there's Coptic Catholic Church and Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt.

So, if you are an ex-Muslim born as native Muslim from Muslim family you can't be a 'Coptic' unless if you just refer the word Coptic to a Christian Egyptians.

yes Coptic now and Coptic before
became a muslim for 2 years, then an atheist for another 2 years
and you are right, about the definition of Coptic
yes we have Coptic Catholic, but the Majority of the Christian Minority is Coptic Orthodox
and I know many ex-muslims who were born as native muslims (one of them was a shiekh and the other is a grandson of a shiekh) and now Coptic Orthodox
in the Coptic History we have many who were muslims and became Coptic Orthodox Martyrs
and yes of course killed by muslims

good question
but truth is always relative, I may think I knew it all when I was atheist, but I didn't
a better way to believe is to see by your own eyes
seeing is believing

no

It probably is too scary for many American girls.

This is interesting to me. My brother dates a woman who is from Lebanon and still has family there. She will not tell her family that she's dating an American man. They are both adults and she's even divorced, but she says it would not be accepted by her family and friends in any way. But, she has met all of my brother's family and friends and we are 100% accepting of her.