An Atheist From Lebanon

[FTLebanon]

Hello all,

 My name is Elie (Eli), I'm a 24 year old guy living in Lebanon. I have a BS in Economics and now I'm doing my MA in Financial Economics. I was raised by Maronite parents (Maronites are the Catholics of the East). My parents were not very religious and they sent me to a secular French school in which I stayed until grade 9. After that my family and I decided to go to the US (where my father worked) and so I did my high-school education in Michigan. When I graduated I told my parents that I wanted to go to college in Lebanon and be among my friends; and so I did.

 I don't recall being very religious during my childhood but I did believe in Jesus Christ and that he is the son of God. I only went to church for weddings or baptisms, never for mass. My skepticism started in the year 1999, when my best friend died in a car crash (a speeding truck smashed into his car). I started questioning the "goodness" of God, especially since Bob (my friend) is one of those people who wouldn't hurt a fly. In 2003, I discovered Darwinism, and this is when everything started to make sense. I went on reading a lot of books on religion as well as science and little by little my doubt about the existence of the supernatural was becoming stronger.

 After 2 years of keeping it a secret, I decided it was time to tell my parents and to my surprise they were very tolerant of the idea. Last year, I decided to become an active Atheist in my country despite the dangers of it. I started contacting a lot of Atheists, Agnostics and Secularists and telling them that we should form a common organization. Some of them were excited but it seems no one has the time (I haven't given up though). Last week I launched my first daily blog http://freethinkinglebanon.blogspot.com and I'm getting a huge support from the lovely online community of skeptics and free-thinkers whom I've been in contact with for less than a year. I'm also posting on twitter now http://twitter.com/FTLebanon trying to share news and ideas on religion in my region.

I am sure I will be facing many obstacles along the path which I have chosen but I'm really dedicated to it. I really hope that other non-believer from my country will soon be encouraged and become a bit more active. I'm also looking forward to sharing views with all of you and I'm sure it will be a fun experience for me!

Cheers

[elliebean]

Hi Elie! Welcome to the forum; I'm glad you could join us.  

[philosoraptor]

Welcome to HAF.  I think you'll find the conversation here is pretty interesting. ;-)

[Cecilie]

Welcome.  

[Tank]

Hi FTL

Keep up the good work and one day everybody will look back and laugh at our god botherers the way they do on the Greeks!

[FTLebanon]

Thanks for the warm welcomes everybody! The support I'm getting from this amazing community is really great!
Tank, I'm sure the day you mentioned is sooner than most people think, thanks to the Pope

Cheers

[pinkocommie]

Welcome to the forum.  

[_7654_]

Congratulations and welcome to this cool forum.

[Davin]

Hello and welcome. Also, good luck with getting your organization going.

[joeactor]

Welcome Elie!

You're a brave man.  Gotta be tough to be an atheist in the middle-east.

I'm an agnostic, and my family is originally from Lebanon (though I've never been).

Best of luck with your cause, and enjoy the forum,
JoeActor