Atheist Republic

Armin Navabi is an ex-Muslim podcaster, author, and founder of the Atheist Republic.
==Personal Life==
Armin was born in Tehran, Iran. His family was relatively liberal, but Armin became very religious due to the influence of his school.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh2QNK1-xFg&t=273s He has a brother.https://twitter.com/ArminNavabi/status/1314198804514521089 As a teenager, he was arrested for being in a car with a girl.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh2QNK1-xFg&t=820s
===Deconversion===
As a child, Armin was taught about the concept of Hell, and was terrified of ending up there, as his school taught him that most people would. He lit a match and put it to his arm “just to see how much it hurts”. He then “tried to imagine that all over his body, and then for five minutes, then ten minutes, then for hours, a year, and then for thousands of years”. Armin has stated that “the idea of hell is one of the most sadistic things humanity has ever come up with”.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgJZCpQZCuo&t=3860s However, he was also taught that if he died before the age of fifteen, he would not go to hell. He therefore reasoned that if he killed himself before he turned 15, he would automatically get into heaven. He asked his school’s religion teacher about this, and the teacher told him he would only go to ‘the lowest part of heaven”. Armin didn’t care, as he only wanted to avoid going to hell.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgJZCpQZCuo&t=4180s Based on this reasoning, he jumped out of the window of his school, breaking both his legs, an arm, and fracturing his back. He spent the next seven months in a wheelchair. He has stated that the only reason he did not try again was because he saw how upset his parents were.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgJZCpQZCuo&t=3460s
Armin was also afraid that his parents would end up in hell, as they were irreligious. However, he also believed that he could pray to replace all the times that they didn’t, but he calculated how many they had missed, and realised that would be impossible. After thinking about this, he realised it was incredibly unfair.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh2QNK1-xFg&t=4380s Armin went to his school’s library and picked up a book called The History Of Religions. While reading this book, he decided that it all seemed made up, and began to question Islam.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh2QNK1-xFg&t=4570 However, he thought he was going insane, and explained his thinking to two other people. They were convinced by his reasoning. Armin then went online and made a community on the website Orkut to try and find other Iranian atheists. He then created a more global version. This community was named Atheist Republic, and was created around 2003.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh2QNK1-xFg&4th=4860s
==Sexy Kali==
In 2020, Armin faced the wrath of many Hindus after he created a sexy Goddess Kali design for T-Shirts. On September 10, he hurt the religious sentiments of many Hindus with his tweet that read, "Like it or not, if my relationship with Kali gets serious, I might end up being every Hindu's stepfather." He subsequently received abuse and death threats.https://twitter.com/16nandani/status/1308195571375763456https://www.ibtimes.co.in/atheist-armin-navabi-creates-sexy-hindu-goddess-design-faces-wrath-828116 There were also several sexually explicit tweets photoshopping Armin’s deceased mother onto pornography.https://twitter.com/abdullahadam/status/1302072141307949057https://twitter.com/ArminNavabi/status/1301958521915879424 The backlash caused Atheism and Armin to trend on Twitter in India.https://twitter.com/TheHarrisSultan/status/1301757341528858624https://twitter.com/Aseeraf1/status/1301840295898750977/photo/1
On October 5, Armin tweeted that his Hindu Goddess Kali post had been removed a second time, and that the first removal showed the “uselessness of the appeal process”. He argued that Twitter was upholding blasphemy laws, and urged people to keep posting #SexyKali.https://twitter.com/ArminNavabi/status/1312891848436801542/photo/1 He was banned from Twitter for posting the image.https://twitter.com/SwipeWright/status/1318374642625650688
On October 24, Armin posted a tweet that read “Your Goddess Kali is mine. Sorry, She's with me now. She's unhappy with her children. Please respect her privacy. Stop talking as if you know what is best for her. She's an independent woman. She chose me over you. Get over it.”https://twitter.com/ArminNavabi/status/1319946758747680768
On October 28, 2020, they tweeted their second piece of “blasphemous art”, of the Hindu Goddesses Kali & Sita kissing, in favour of marriage equality in India. The image is available on a shirt.https://twitter.com/BlasphemousArt/status/1321343648844242945 The image was temporarily taken down, but was soon reinstated.https://twitter.com/ArminNavabi/status/1321394405379506176 The “blasphemous art project” has a dedicated Twitter account, @BlasphemousArt.https://twitter.com/BlasphemousArt
==YouTube==
The Atheist Republic channel uploads multiple videos a day. It was incorporated as a non-profit in 2011.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh2QNK1-xFg&t=4990s It also has Arabic and Persian translations. Armin has created videos with Apostate Prophet,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E56KQUEU9fg and Shannon Q,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REtOi4l9bhs and was on the first episode of CosmicSkeptic’s podcast.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgJZCpQZCuo
==Podcast==
Armin cohosts the Secular Jihadist podcast with Ali Rizvi. The podcast has a YouTube channel.https://www.youtube.com/c/SecularJihadistsforaMuslimEnlightenment/featured
==Book==
In 2014, Armin published Why There Is No God, which refutes 20 arguments for the existence of God. Armin sends free PDF copies of the book to people who don’t have credit cards or can’t afford a copy. It has been translated into Persian and Arabic.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgJZCpQZCuo&t=4852s
==References==
Category:Commentary YouTubers
Category:Iranian YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2011