I grew up in the Middle East and am so very thankful to have been raised by atheist parents. With the conservativeness of the culture and the incredible amounts of brain washing it is almost impossible to find somebody who has come to this conclusion on their own despite having Muslim parents. At 10 years old teachers would terrorize us over and over again with stories of hell and such. I pretty much knew one other person who was openly atheist. It didn't stop me from arguing my views, but it's safe to say I was more than judged (specially being a girl, which does a matter a lot over there).