Layla Nasreddin / Lisa Bauer's story

[Thinking Aloud]

Lisa Bauer (Layla Nasreddin) is publishing her story in Free Enquiry (forward by RD) - see this thread at RDF for a link to the PDF for part one, and her own comments.

http://richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtop ... 6#p2307701

(For non RDF members, the PDF is here)

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Just got that issue in the mail today.

For those of you who don't subscribe to Free Inquiry, line up here for your free

[charlou]

Thank you, TA. I'll take a look.


I like your av - what type of spider is that?

Edit: Spider derail here...
http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5035

[Lisa Bauer]

Hi, guys!

If any of you have any questions or comments, let me know...

I was wondering when that issue was actually coming out and when people were actually going to get it. I mean, it's still not at the bookstores around here (though I already have my copies).

Lisa

[Bella Fortuna]

Very impressive, Lisa. You deserve many kudos and much

[Sisifo]

Hi, guys!

If any of you have any questions or comments, let me know...

I was wondering when that issue was actually coming out and when people were actually going to get it. I mean, it's still not at the bookstores around here (though I already have my copies).

Lisa

I loved the writing, and I admire your courage.

[Lisa Bauer]

Thanks a lot, you guys! I'm still fairly fragile, and every kind word helps.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I think you are very brave to have escaped that situation Lisa. It can't have been easy. And also to publicise it in the way that you are doing - in effect displaying your own weakness to the world. It is tales like this that make me thank... well no-one actually, that I threw off the shackles of a religious upbringing when I did and I hope that it is an inspiration to others.

[Chinaski]

I think it's a wonderful contribution to the fight for human rights, and applaud you for making your own experience available to the rest of us, so that we may find deeper connections as a community than simply shared ideologies. Looking forward to part 2, although a part of me is scared of what I might learn.

[Animavore]

Amazing some of the parallels with myself at that age. I, too, after 9/11 took an interest in Islam and wanted to understand them and read the Koran which I found somehow amazingly powerful, almost scary and was attracted to its exoticness especially the writing which I thought had an artistic flourish to it. That's were the similarities end. My interest in Islam then got me interested in other religions and it was Buddhism which captured me in the end. Their temples and artwork. I just find them so amazing to this day. So colourful compared to the grey and morbid churches of Catholicism.
I'm pretty sure though, as a man, that even if I had of went to Islam it may not have harmed me as much. Or maybe it would. Who knows?

Glad to see you got out of that religion though. It must've been hard (unlike Buddhism which is so easy going that they still let me meditate with them when ever I feel like it despite knowing that I reject some of the more supernatural doctrine). I wonder have you read Infidel by Ayann Hirsi Ali? I'm sure you have. That was my favourite book from last year.

Keep up the good work

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Hi, guys!

If any of you have any questions or comments, let me know...

I was wondering when that issue was actually coming out and when people were actually going to get it. I mean, it's still not at the bookstores around here (though I already have my copies).

Lisa

Lisa, I got my copy the day this broke here at Ratz.

[charlou]

I'm pretty sure though, as a man, that even if I had of went to Islam it may not have harmed me as much. Or maybe it would. Who knows?

It may have just harmed you in a different way ... Muslim men are egotistically inflated (I'm sure there's a more appropriate term ... perverted?) by the paternalist and elitist egoism of their religious doctrine, and this combination can have a powerful influence over an indoctrinated psyche and the related behaviour of that individual.

It can turn nice little boys into disturbed creatures like this (unpleasant images):

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Who can perpetrate atrocities like this:

[Trolldor]

It's an... well, it's...

At first I didn't make much of it.
When I finally finished I feel like I'd forced my way in to somewhere I had no right to be.

I think it's something which is quite beyond any of us to understand - to offer support or sympathy perhaps out of obligation, confused and nervous about what to say.

It doesn't "put things in to context", what it has done for me has made 'stories' and 'news reports' something very real, and that's because you are here and responding, you are more than a name and a distant face.

The sad reality is many people will read the story with a pitying smile and forget it, or talk about it to their friends about how it touched them, but it won't affect them.

But you have... amazed me. The idea I'm looking for is that I admire you for your strength, but the words cheapen the reality.
That said, I must also be honest in that some part of me is skeptical about whether any of this ever happened, and am not entirely settled with the idea that it might be made up.
But what's written was honest, and that has made me respond as sincerely as I could. I don't think it's fair that you should share so much and suffer placations.
You really have given something up here, so thank you.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Second installment is out in Free Inquiry. Got my copy yesterday.

[Chinaski]

Is there a pdf of part 2?