I believe in God but do not follow any religion. My pacifist nature and desire to do no harm to any living creature are enough for me. I would like to join CEMB due to my background, as I would like to talk to other people with similar views and exchange ideas.

I am female and grew up in England in what was essentially a secular family of mixed white/E and SE Asian heritage. We were Muslim in name only. I never learned Arabic, the Quran, how to pray, or fasted. However, as a teenager, some of my siblings became interested in Islam and they attempted to influence me into it.

Gradually I was being told by my siblings (never my parents) that I must fast or I would be committing sin. I had to learn to pray. I had to read the Quran (or at least an English translation of it). I tried all of those things a few times, but my heart was never in it. Being constantly tired during fasting while having to go to work, waking up at 3 a.m. to eat - all of it struck me as absurd. It was a joyless existence. There were so many petty rules and regulations. Life as a Muslim was one of constant micromanagement.

The thing that truly prevented me from ever embracing Islam (as I can\'t say I ever joined it in the first place) is its treatment of women. Women are chattel, essentially. And I find the concept of a headscarf repugnant. In brief, it condones and perpetuates rape culture. In Islam, men are nothing more than wild beasts who can be inflamed by a strand of hair, apparently. This does a great disservice to all the civilised men in the world, who I am certain far outnumber the backward ones.

Briefly, the Islamic view of heaven and hell also strikes me as unappealing. My idea of heaven would be reuniting with my mother and all my cats. Yet Islam promises a heaven that is basically just a realm full of debauchery - sex, sex and more sex. This is the reward for living a holy, pious life on earth. Really?! And hell is everlasting torment, which I cannot accept that a merciful God would choose to inflict on His creation.