A while ago I wrote about a female friend who was considering becoming Muslim, and I expressed a concern over both the underlying motivations for such a decision, and the possible outcome.
Some time later, the “second option” has come to pass — she has rejected her Islamic man and turned away from the religion. Whilst I don’t want to make judgement calls – well, okay, I love making judgement calls, but in this instance I’m trying to stay objective – she certainly seems a lot happier and healthier (mentally) since making the decision.
Which is not to say Islam is bad for a person, blah blah blah1. But clearly her infatuation was unhealthy, and if she had become Muslim it would have been for all the wrong reasons.
- Actually, I do tend to think that religion is “bad” for a lot of people (including those on the sharp end of both types of religious persecution: persecution for and persecution by. And don’t tell me it doesn’t happen.), but I am open to the idea that it’s not bad for everybody. Nothing is universal, after all. And since “religion” means different things to different people, it would mean slapping the “bad”-label on such a multitude of ideas and practises that it would be both gross stereotyping and ignorance of the highest order. Can you have high degrees of ignorance?