Are you losing your religion?

[00:00:00]Because they don't know what's good for them. You do, so you have to find these people and change their minds and show them the one true path.

[00:00:10]Get away from me. You can't tell me what to do, okay? Lovingly.

[00:00:16]So, [laughter] Drewski did this thing.

[00:00:19]For those of you that don't know, Drewski is an internet personality. I don't know what He's a streamer, he's a comedian, he does a lot of stuff, but people know him online a lot. And he does a lot of skits. And he recently did a skit >> [laughter] >> about megachurches that was so [ __ ] [laughter] funny.

[00:00:49]>> I'm going to have Wanda stand up here.

[00:00:51]Wanda, please.

[00:00:52]Wanda told us earlier this month that she could not have a baby anymore. So, I impregnated her with the word of God.

[00:00:59]>> YOU GOING TO GET PREGNANT WITH THE WORD OF GOD. YOU GOING TO GET PREGNANT WITH THE WORD OF GOD.

[00:01:03]>> [music] >> SOMEBODY IN THE CONGREGATION ASKED WHY I'm wearing Christian Dior and Christian Louboutins.

[00:01:10]Cuz I'm A CHRISTIAN AND I WALK IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS. GIVE HIM SOME PRAISE FOR THAT.

[00:01:16]GIVE HIM HIS LIFE SAVINGS UP IN HERE.

[00:01:18]>> [music] >> NOW, AS YOU CAN probably imagine, that got a lot of religious folk in a tizzy because, you know, you're making fun of how they worship, I guess. But, he wasn't really doing that. He was more so making fun of megachurches and the super wealthy pastors that proclaim the prosperity gospel and say it's all right and good because God wants you to be this wealthy and not pay taxes. And also those churches that turn the whole Sunday service into like Cirque du Soleil, like, girl, That's what he was making fun of. But, a lot of people took it personally, and you know, we're upset about it. We're also upset about the fact that, and this is something I hear Christians say quite often, and I'm not going to say that they're wrong about this, that if it was any other religion, people would be way more outraged, right? And that's fair. But, that's because Christianity kind of at least American branches of Christianity, the jokes write themselves, girl. But, this video isn't just about that religion, though.

[00:02:29]It's about all of them. Yep, I'm coming for all of them, because I saw something, what was it, the other day, a post the other day about someone, they just mentioned like, they can't claim to be a feminist and support religious institutions of any kind, not just Christianity, because those are rooted in patriarchy, and I was like, "Yeah."

[00:02:49]Yeah. But, beyond that, we're going to get into the reasons why I think religion in general, in my view, kind of holds us back, and why I understand why a lot of people, for all time, and especially now, have questioned religion, or are questioning religion, the depictions that we see of people that claim to be holy and religious, what they actually are doing behind the scenes that make us go, "Okay, so all y'all are liars."

[00:03:17]Whether that's financial fraud, whether that's sexual assault allegations, the list can go on. But, if you're feeling a little less holy, a little less religious, a little less mhm, or you're questioning all of it, or maybe you are religious, and you don't understand why people wouldn't want to believe, why people wouldn't want to have some sort of connection to source, let's say. Stick around, cuz we're going to talk about that. Okay?

[00:03:45]Okay. So, I'm going to mostly talk about this from my own perspective, as I like to do, because that's the only thing I'm an expert on.

[00:03:53]And these are the reasons that I personally don't jive with religion of any kind or sorry, I should say religion of worshipping God and why I just kind of yeah, don't believe in God.

[00:04:06]Mostly it's not even religion, it's I don't believe in God.

[00:04:09]So, main thing, religion relies a lot on blind obedience. I am not somebody who just listens to people because they're in a position of authority. That's one way to actually get me to not listen to you or respect you because I'm like, "WHOSE BOOT DID YOU HAVE TO LICK TO GET THERE?"

[00:04:26]>> [laughter] >> I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A LITTLE DIPTHONGS.

[00:04:30]But no, seriously, I don't like people that have told me, "Oh, you have to do this because I said so." The [ __ ] Especially people that weren't my parents on top of that cuz even my parents, there was there would be some conflict every once in a while. I still had immigrant parents, so it wasn't early, but eventually I became an adult and and traumatized them enough to where I was like, "Yeah, you going to leave me alone now." But people that weren't my parents trying to tell me [ __ ] bosses trying to be rude to me?

[00:04:57]Who I DON'T LET MY DAD talk to me like this. WHO THE [ __ ] ARE YOU? AS arrogant as this might sound to some of you, I cannot abide blindly following anyone, let alone a man. Let alone a fictional man that lets the world suffer the way it does and I know y'all are like, "You're not getting the point of the religion."

[00:05:18]I grew up in it.

[00:05:20]I I'm good. I take some parts of the religion and I'll talk about that towards the end that I think work for me and that I think are helpful, some of the some of the pillars of Islam I'll say, but other than that, I don't believe in God and I just can't.

[00:05:36]Speaking of a man telling you what to do, yeah, all these religions are super patriarchal. And for me, if a religion is telling me that one gender is above all the other, I'm likely to be skeptical cuz I'm looking at that gender going, "Were you the one who made this?

[00:05:52]Were you getting tired of women being unruly, maybe? Or you you didn't like women rejecting you or doing what they wanted, so you guys decided that the religion needed women to be the subordinates, and that's why we see God as a man, even though he's not technically a man, but we use male pronouns and identify him as dad, as the father?

[00:06:14]The women are in the story, but they're just there to either be corrupting devices, like Eve, like Mary Magdalene, or they are uncorruptible somehow, virgin birth, which girl, okay. Uncorruptible. And then all of a sudden they're the good ones because they're conduits for another great man. Girl, I just can't. I just can't. And then all the different versions that would come out? If somebody came out with a new version of the Holy Bible today, would you guys follow that? Like there's that thing in humanity not humanities, religious studies, I think, cults plus time equals religion. And the other part of it that I that I question is everybody thinks that their God is the only true one. When I was a Muslim, that was the case. There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad, peace be upon him, is his prophet. That is the first thing you say.

[00:07:08]Everybody thinks they're right. And some people might say, "Oh, everybody's just worshiping the same God, they just don't know it." Either way, I only believe in the God of death.

[00:07:18]>> [laughter] >> But for real, I've been rewatching Game of Thrones, and it's just so funny to see all these different religions and faiths talk about their gods and their things, and it's just like everybody thinks that they're [ __ ] right. And like here we are still in the world suffering, when we could all be helping each other.

[00:07:37]I don't know.

[00:07:39]I also I like the amount of surveillance and like bodily control that is required in religion. You're constantly watching yourself is how I felt. I was constantly watching myself because God was constantly watching me. And I was constantly trying to make sure that I was doing things that weren't bad, but then I was thinking, "Okay, well, do I actually want to do these things or am I just doing them because I don't want to go to hell?" Like anything that would make me a hypocrite cuz I think of things too literally a lot of times. I was so scared of. It was very all or nothing. Like it just constantly felt like I had to keep the body in control, in in check. Like this rigidity and this almost hate for the body and for being human and for existing and for having any sort of sinful anything. And then I would look around at people that claimed this religion and they would be acting as such hypocrites. They would be so all over the place. Sorry, the hypocrisy will come up next.

[00:08:32]We'll keep it on the body control and the surveillance, but like those people would still try to tell you about how to be religious at the same time. It's not just you surveilling yourself, it's you surveilling other people and judging other people about who's going to be more holy, who's going to get in where. And if you're in certain sects of Christianity, it's about this is your mission. You have to get people to convert because they don't know what's good for them. You do, so you have to find these people and change their minds and show them the one true path.

[00:09:07]Get away from me. I want to let you practice your religion in peace because that is your right and you should be allowed to do that.

[00:09:13]I should also be allowed to be a non-religious heathen, okay? And then we get to the hypocrisy. This was the main reason I left Islam. I remembered learning that hypocrites were on the lowest rung of hell and it scared me so bad because at the time, like yeah, I was like not being as religious as I could have been. I didn't wear a hijab.

[00:09:32]I painted my nails. I think I had a nose piercing, you know, like certain things, but like I still was like saving myself for marriage and like not drinking. Like once in a while I had a drink, but I was like avoiding that. I was pretty straight edge. Like there was a lot of stuff I didn't eat pork. There was a lot of stuff that I was still doing, but I felt like the biggest hypocrite in the world. And I couldn't reconcile other people also moving like hypocrites, but then telling me that I still had to just be in that religion and and just deal with it. I don't know. I just I really couldn't reconcile like the hypocrisy of a lot of these folks. And it's not fully their fault because the demand of a lot of these religions you're not supposed to be a human person. Like what are you supposed to do? Like it it feels damn near impossible to not be a hypocrite. Your God is loving, but it's also always out to get you. It's also always looking for you to be doing wrong. It's also always looking for a way to send you to hell.

[00:10:28]And then finally, the logical inconsistencies that my brain just can't. I just can't. I need to like I like science. And like not even that I'm like a science-y oriented person cuz I'm like an artsy person, but like I just like when humans use their curiosity without judgment and open-mindedness to try to find answers or to see as whole a picture as possible and not just their biases as best they can, right? Knowing we all have those. Religious texts ask you to like slap your logic in the face and go sit down, hoe. You don't matter here. And some people they're like, yeah, exactly. That's great. And for me, it's just like don't insult me.

[00:11:04]>> [laughter] >> Don't insult my intelligence. What? So, the devil is underground or not literally. I know he's not literally underground. The devil is in hell. And even though him and God are enemies, instead of glorifying the terrible people that God sends down to him, instead of having it be a party every day throwing it in God's face that the devil is having a good time, it's hell and torment and torture because the devil is still going to do God's bidding even though God banished him. Like I understand God's more powerful, so that's why he's able to do it, but it just sounds like I'm talking about science fiction. Sorry, fantasy. It just feels like I'm talking about fantasy. So, Mary never had sex, but gave birth. Totally not painful. And you guys don't see that as a way for men to compartmentalize the fact that they want to {quote} soil and have sex with women and tarnish them by them being like pregnancy is the evidence of that, but Mary, we were like, "Okay, you can be a virgin and get pregnant. That way, you're not soiled, but you're still able to do your duty as a woman and a mother, meaning give birth."

[00:12:22]And if this is all true, why haven't we ever seen any of the stuff that's been in these books since? Any of the miracles. Not a one of them have have happened on this earth since. To me, that's the that's the biggest evidence.

[00:12:34]There hasn't been another virgin birth since. I haven't seen a man walk on water unless it was Criss Angel on A&E.

[00:12:41]To believe in that for me asks me to not think.

[00:12:50]And I can't do that. So, >> [laughter] >> it also is just a compatibility issue at this point, honestly.

[00:12:55]The other problem I have with a lot of these religious folks that say they believe in God and practice this and all this other stuff is that they're allowed to get away with so much [ __ ] under the justi- justification of religion. And I know that's not religion's fault, that's those people's faults, but it's so we got like again, people will think that their faith is the only way, and so they have to go through murdering and pillaging places to try to convert people to their religion. That's what you have to do to try to convert people? I won't be part of your religion. And why do you need so many people to believe in this one way of life?

[00:13:31]What happened to letting people believe in their individual things? I actually recorded this video a little while ago and then re-recorded it because I wanted to kind of gather my thoughts better, but the last segment that I have is what comes after religion? Because I think it's important to consider that if you're somebody that was religious and now you're stepping away from it, what what kind of moral compass do you have?

[00:13:56]What kind of of of person are you? And I actually put that in that video and I like what I said there, so I'm going to keep it. So, we're going to flash back in time kind of to that, but yeah.

[00:14:09]Thanks so much for watching.

[00:14:11]So, what comes after God?

[00:14:15]You. For real. I feel like when I was moving out of being religious, it took a while for me to be able to say it because I had spent 19-20 years of my life being like, "Oh, yeah, I believe in God." Like, that wasn't even a question.

[00:14:26]So, I was kind of like, "Okay, what the hell's going to happen now?" Like, "Mhm, I don't believe in God. What?" It took a while of me learning who I was outside of who I thought I was supposed to be in terms of yeah, basically my whole life. Like, what I was supposed to look like. Supposed to get married, have kids, this, that, and the third. I just Stay a virgin until you're married. All that stuff. Like, I felt like I needed to like learn about myself again and that journey was a lot. Being in my 20s, [laughter] so so much. It was exhausting. I definitely made a lot of mistakes, but I'm kind of person that like needs to go through it and figure it out that way. I can't just be told, unfortunately, which is why I guess the blind obedience thing never works for me, but with this self-discovery, I was able to create my own set of values and that's something that I think is really important to have. And some of those values are inspired directly from pillars of Islam or just the way I see people move and act in certain religions. And some of those tenants are just ones that I carry with me. Like honesty is a value and that sounds They're very general, yes.

[00:15:37]But it's because I define what that general theme is, and that helps me further solidify my value system. So again, I've told y'all honesty and truth, let's say, are value.

[00:15:51]And if they're the case, that means I want to do that and I want other people to move like that. But the definition for me is seeing things from as many sides as possible to get as clear picture as possible, to see as much of the image as you can. It's like every side makes up a different piece. To see it for what it is in total, in its whole wholeness.

[00:16:13]I Of course I said [ __ ] whole.

[00:16:14]Anyway, another value of mine is humor, which goes to like literally laughing and being able to joke around and have fun.

[00:16:23]But it's also like finding humor in really messed up things and situations because that is the way that I am able to like cope with things and be okay. Another value of mine is respect. Oh wait, I don't think I've defined respect. I'm going to come back on that one. I'm going to come back on that one. I don't think I've defined respect for myself, actually. But see, this is part of it. This is the fun of it. It's like I'm creating my own charter book rule of like how I want to live. And it can be scary, but it's also exciting.

[00:16:55]And like I said as well, I believe more so that I can do things and I mean them. And obviously people can sometimes still act for the sake of other people like in the world. Maybe you're not thinking that you're being watched by God, but you're thinking you're being watched by others, so that's totally fair. But yeah, I feel a lot less secretly guilty or ashamed after the fact of of doing things because I thought that it would be a good look from God, you know? I don't know, man.

[00:17:27]If you're struggling with your religion right now or you're losing your religion, welcome to the club, girl.

[00:17:34]Welcome. Come on in. Welcome. It's okay.

[00:17:39]It sucks. It's scary. It feels very nebulous, but all the more reason for you to start about what you value and care about and what's important to you and how do you define those values so that you can then have your own sort of ethics and morals and codes of living.

[00:17:57]Yeah, that has nothing to do with a story or or or maybe it is all just a story. Ugh, I'm getting too philosophical. Okay, I'm going to go now. Thanks so much for watching, y'all.

[00:18:07]Bye.