As someone with a culturally western Christian background I’ve never been deeply interested in theological debates about which religion is metaphysically the "truest". What really interests me is the social outcome of different religions and what kind of societies and cultures they actually produce. From this perspective, I believe Islam produces the worst societal model in the world. Islam is excessively overburdened with rules and prohibitions, and living in a society governed by so many restrictions inevitably leads to a rigid, black-and-white approach to one another. It triggers a continuous race among individuals to prove who is better at following these rules, a competition that is extremely hypocritical because many people will inevitably follow these restrictions only in public just to be accepted by a toxic society, while doing the exact opposite in secret simply because they desperately need an outlet. Over time, people lose the ability to simply be good human beings on their own terms, relying entirely on ancient rules that are completely incompatible with the contemporary world. When a society is choked by this amount of control, it becomes fundamentally unlivable because trust is completely eroded. Instead of seeing your neighbor as a good person, you end up viewing them as a potential source of impurity. The only muslim places that remain somewhat livable are those where Sharia law is heavily diluted and the culture is heavily "westernized", like the UAE, where people tolerate the system mainly because there are no income taxes and women can wear bikinis on the beach. It is hardly a coincidence that millions of Muslims choose to move to non-Islamic countries seeking freedom, and not the other way around. I really respect the courage of everyone in this community who has managed to break free from this kind of environment, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this.   submitted by   /u/Don_Onofrio   to   r/exmuslim [link]   [comments]