The Fun Part... About Me (in the UAE)

This should be fun, unless the government stops me! The government in question is the UAE's, where the order of the day is the religion of Islam.

The fun part is that by blogging my faith I can express a world view that I ordinarily have no choice but to keep a lid on. There are so many things to talk about that I don't really know where to start. For the sake of the reader, however, I'll keep each post topic-based and brief.

The topic of this post is to introduce myself, as an atheist.

This is me, 47 years old in Dubai, UAE--what an incredible city! This is my story. I'll tell it in reverse.

Last things first, I exist here in the UAE as a wallflower, which is quite easy to manage.

The law is Islam--there is no separation between church and state, not even a pretense (unlike in the USA, my home of origin). But it is a don't ask, don't tell sort of place. (Oops, I'm telling now.)

There is a defacto freedom and liberalism here--but with no guarantees. So, you just live your life and keep your fingers crossed.

I am a wallflower--I don't practice my faith. As a teacher the question comes up in class on occasion. When it does I answer frankly, "I don't believe in any religion." Some quizzical expressions appear, but nothing is really made of it. It basically returns to don't ask, don't tell.

Religion, mostly Islam, is everywhere, but largely non-intrusive. It is easy to ignore. There are Christians, Hindus and that majority of humans who do not really follow any religion although they pretend to. In any case, no one bombards you with religion.

Unlike them, however, I doubt that I could practice my faith here if I so desired--and I do in fact desire to. Why not! It is what I believe and what I understand to be the truth. Why should I not want to express it in some overt form and share it or share in it with others?


  City of the future--Dubai (DIFC)

My closest friend is Hindu. While I can respect both him and his faith, for it is reflective of what in my eyes is a very creative and colorful cultural tradition, it (Hinduism) is nonetheless as illogical and nonsensical as any religion, which... well I need to save any further commentary on that for another post.

With my Hindu friend I have occasion to express and argue my point of view. That is my one, very limited opportunity to share and, for a brief moment, bask in my atheist world view.

Part 2, in Sri Lanka...