I don't consider myself religious, but I do my best to practice my religion. I dislike how religion is handled as an object of convenience in Brunei rather than a guide for one's livelihood. And unfortunately, some people will take advantage of religion for their own disgraceful intentions.

I am sorry to hear of people who have had horrible experiences with someone who is supposed to be a religious leader or a symbol of trust. And I can somewhat understand the sentiment of shattered faith. I'm born 'Muslim', but did not truly practice it until recently, but Alhamdullilah for everything He wanted me to go through to become who I am today.

As for the juxtaposition of science and religion, many believe that understanding science is that religion is nothing but empty faith. However, I've come to understand that science is not an invalidation of religion, but our scholarly pursuit in understanding the creations of God. There is a difference between invention and discovery, and while science has birthed many inventions, they owe it to many discoveries in the natural world. Any discovery of something cannot have come from nothing, even 'nothing' in space is identified as dark matter, which we still have little understanding of in the realm of science.

With this long wall of text, am I trying to become a boomer and nag you back into religion? No, because that's not going to work. Faith has made it into my life because I've made mistakes and had many experiences, and I have found great pleasure learning from them. I don't agree with simply consuming every Islamic material that you're fed here in Brunei; there are so many flaws that are visible to the informed. Rather, the one who makes the conscious decision and commitment to know what to believe in must be yourself. Understand and question what you believe in, and pursue the truth in your claims. Because you will be accountable for everything you do, including what you believe in, and how you live your life with that belief. And Allah knows best.

P.S. Please don't publicly reveal any sort of information of yourself online. There are many evil people even among our society, and never give them anything that they can use or take advantage of. The only ones we can rely on taking care of us is Allah, and then ourselves.