3AM, can't sleep, burner account, got work tomorrow. So this is not well thought-out at all.
Recently I reconnected with an exclassmate. He's the smartest one and we talked a bit. We weren't close back then. He just left me a huge impression because he was honest about being an atheist when the lecturer asked what religion he believed in. I was an atheist as well at the time an I was a bit excited that there's other atheists near me. But the whole class was shocked at his proclamation since the notion of someone not believing in god is so out of place in this country. Some people stayed after to ask him how and why he didn't believe in god. It was borderline intrusive considering that they would not have done the same if he had said that he was a Buddhist or any other religion. I realize that even without me being an apostate, there's still stigma around people who reject the idea of god. Reading about what happened to atheist groups, not just in Malaysia but other countries as well. I thought that non muslim atheists are the freest you can be here. I wish all these stupid social expectations can go away. I'm poor as hell I can't afford to move during war. How do people reach the conclusion that atheists are immoral people that want to sin and hate god? I know how but it doesn't make any sense to me. Even then when I still believed, I knew that atheist simply didn't believe in the magic I did.
All in all, I do think that there's no priority in fighting for our rights to exist. Since in history, a lot of things happened at once. With the help of science and love for knowledge, we shall prevail! I hope being in this era of information at the tip of your finger, all of human can use their critical thinking skills a bit. I think when you're smarter, you become more compassionate and empathetic. I see how even with religions' expectation to have their believers discriminate and push back against stupid sins, the smarter ones say 'live and let live'.
Back to my previous point, I think we can build atheist a better image in this country. I wish there are outofcloset atheist to make examples of tho. I talked to some of my exclassmates about atheism to explain some of their misunderstanding which I also did for transgender people too since people had a hard time grasping this concept as well. I can't say whether they remember what I explained cause they always seem to forget. I just hope they're not as bigoted as the people I saw everyday. Moral of the story, atheism is not some scary demonic organizations. The end.