Thanks to all above (Betty, FSM)who have offered me a warm welcome. I will try to tackle some of the points raised.
Yes, BK Baracus - you indeed have got it - though some will say that jews are a race not a religion - so they can be athiest and still be a jew, whereas muslims are a religion but not a race - I say that there are black jews from Ethiopia that I have heard of, surely they are not of the same race as European jews and also on a religion(ethics) board my identity stemming from religion is one of a muslim. Otherwise my identity is British Pakistani.
Yes Prof, sometimes it is difficult to tell them apart, after all most of us have brown skin. Seriously though it is a bit like asking someone who you meet who hails from Northern Ireland whether they are protestant or catholic (usually one of my first questions) and if they reply neither I am an athiest, my follow-up question would be is that athiest catholic or athiest protestant (or more accurately non-catholic). Also I would say the emotional mind lags behind the rational mind.
For instance, I don't eat pork, hardly drink, pray once a week (fridays - so that is once out of the possible 35), keep fasts but dont believe in the divinity of Islam or the existence of God. Possibly a mass of contradictions. Perhaps I describe myself as a athiest muslim and not just an athiest because I am proud, so to speak, of my cultural upbringing, of being a Pakistani - others in the same position are perhaps embarrased by their cultural upbringing - have identity crisis - hate Islam because of specific reasons. I as a heterosexual male have not a lot to fear from Islam as manifested in my culture.
The Lord's Way - I lurk on a few forums - some I visit once a day to others once a month - the reason why I decided to post now, is that I 'usually' post in one forum, and last week I banned for 3 months from a muslim forum(they are so thin-skinned)and needed a forum to fulfil the itch. Not that I am a prolific poster, usually a week on- a week off etc.
Also both you and Gonnagle have asked about my fall from grace. Not that interesting really, was about 11 when I asked my mother if Allah made us who made him, to be met with 'we shouldn't really ask those sort of questions'. Hmm. Plus the fact that I hail from the more puritanical end of islam the 'wahabis' it wasn't long before my natural rebelliousness and inquiring mind overcame the indoctrination.
That was more than twenty years ago. Not enough time now to go into further detail.
Kenturah - re jelly babies - I pop them in whole.
