Where is faith in all this?

I stopped being a Muslim, although I was born a Muslim and grew up a Muslim. This is the position of Sami Shah, who decided to come to Australia from Pakistan.

He and his family are now living here happily and he is becoming well known as both a comedian and writer.

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Comedian Sami Shah. Photo: Supplied

Sami's first child was a daughter, and her gender was what finally prompted him and his wife to migrate to Australia. If their child had been a son they probably wouldn't have come, but as the child was a girl they migrated because the women aren't treated well in Pakistan, as in many parts of the developing world.

So, Sami decided to give up his religion. And giving up religion in his country is punishable by death in his and some other countries.

So what then? Having found the Koran dense and convoluted he looked beyond Islam and carefully considered both the Old and New Testaments, but found them both incapable of having relevance to his modern life.

So where is faith in all this? All humans have a natural need to seek meaning. This natural desire for something to believe in is frequently not much helped by religious structures. We're too often told that "this is the truth and if you don't accept it you should just go away".

The result of that stance has meant that organised religion as a means to find belief is rejected by many. It's why people listen to the militant atheists who see religion as a positive evil. So much organised religion is restrictive, although it also is a means through which many people find their faith. And many religions express that faith by reaching out to serve people in need regardless of belief – the Salvation Army, Anglicare, Jewish Care, Catholic Social Services etc.

So all religious structures are flawed. Like all human structures, from political parties to large corporations to golf clubs to mothers' groups. They're all human. There's often division. Religious structures can offer a vehicle through which people can discover a meaning in their lives. They can find that loving our neighbours, forgiving others' mistakes, accepting others' failures is the true way of expressing faith – whatever one it may be.

Meditating and worshipping is comforting and helpful, as long as the resulting faith leads to ensuring that we live our lives positively and work to enhance the humanity of the people around us.

Don Mackay is a Melbourne writer.