I am an 18 year old apostate of Islam. Islam was something that I was extremely passionate about and would even try and convey its message to friends and not so religious family members. Being a science lover I was particularly interested in the so called scientific miracles of the Quran which I later discovered were not as impressive as I once thought. The more I looked into Islam from a less biased viewpoint I realised it was no more special than all the other religions of the world except maybe a little more cruel than some. I began to realise that it is a religion which favours men and treats women like second class citizens. I always believed Islam was the religion that truly liberated women and that is what i used to constantly remind my non Muslim and even my less religious Muslim friends who were having doubts. However over time I realised that I would never be able to OBEY a man and isolate myself from the rest of society. I want to be able to achieve great things and I realised Islam is what is holding me back from achieving my dreams. I remember growing up I would constantly pray for my non Muslim friends as I feared they would go to hell. I could never understand why a merciful and compassionate god would create someone he knew would disobey him only to punish them for eternity.The whole concept of hell seemed cruel and unfair. Although I am still in the closet I hope one day I will have the courage to tell more people about my atheism.