User:Dally

I was raised in a highly religious Sikh family. I attended religious classes regularly so that I may one day become a preacher of the faith. Ironically, it was during this time that my religiosity began to wane due to the internal debates I used to have. A year later I became more deistic, a little while after that I stopped believing in a god, and for those first few months I called myself an agnostic not knowing that I was an atheist too- I didn't know the word had even existed until I started watching The Atheist Experience.

My transition: I went from being religious to mildly religious, to apathetic, to a passionate or militant(!) atheist seeing how religion which for centuries been declared a force for good, cause so much strife. Furthermore, the damage I have witnessed in my own family because of religion has motivated me even more to be critical of religion. But I don't consider myself much of an atheist as my atheism is a conclusion, not a way of thinking. I consider myself a rationalist/skeptic, and though I don't consider myself as a very good one, I try my best to improve.

In the deconversion phase I was able to criticise many of the views that were being put forward in Sikh literature, and decided to venture into exploring the Abrahamic religions which to my surprise I found to be far more horrible than what I was raised with. I consider myself spoilt in the sense that the religion I was raised in was far more mild, more tolerant, compassionate and respectful (especially of women) in comparison than the Abrahamic religions. But it still has its faults that I think should be presented in an objective manner by someone who was raised in the religion and culture.

I think it would be pretty awesome if Iron Chariots had a broader and in-depth knowledge-base regarding religions rather than focusing on the predominant few. I would like to see a counter apologetics site that has in depth analysis of a vast number of religions. At least here I can contribute interesting things about Sikhism. I can add to the Wiki, for example, the belief in reincarnation, the 5Ks (including the Sikh version of Mormon "magic underwear"), the "fluffier" aspects of the religion as well as some of the valid criticisms one can direct towards it without the misconceptions that are often promulgated towards it by those of other faiths (especially Hindus and Muslims).

I have a Youtube channel where I have uploaded a lot of skeptic materials, none of which was authored by myself. I'd like to contribute to the skeptical movement in other ways than mirroring/uploading the work of others.

Dally