I was born in Pakistan and lived in Pakistan till I was 18. At the age of 18 I moved to United Kingdom to study at university. Having been surrounded by people with absolute faith till 18 I hadn\'t given much thought to why I believed in what I believed in, I sort of believed in it and practiced it cause I guess thats what I was told and I didn\'t know any better.

Moving to England however changed everything. I lived in England for the past 6 years and have recently moved back to Pakistan (hoping its only short term). I met people who thought differently and believed in being rational and questioned things that deserved a bit of questioning. So it took me a while and I started reading and questioning and now here I am an Atheist and if I were in any other country I would shout from the roof tops.

One of the main reasons I am joining this group is that I am sort of stuck in Pakistan for the time being. I live with my family who are extremely religious. I can not express myself around anyone here and in a way sometimes feel quite alone. No one really knows that I am not a muslim as I fear for all the repercussions one of which is death and a very sad but true reality. Of course I have friends who are in England, my girl friend who lives there and in essence I do have a support group but none of whom have gone through what I am at this moment. Hence I wanted to connect with people who might be going through something similar.

Also I am sure there are very interesting things discussed on this forum and my thirst for knowledge especially scientific in nature has become somewhat unquenchable since my \"conversion\" (after all I wasn\'t asked what I am when I was born).

So Hi