It’s possible. Social stigma and being shunned is also possible, and worse.

I’ve been told (to my face, not just on-line) by someone claiming to be Islamic that as an atheist I deserve the death penalty. Never even having been a Muslim.

Islam is not monolithic: it has it’s internal tensions, just as Christianity does, but there is undoubtedly something odd about some Muslims reassuringly quoting “Let there be no compulsion in religion” while “over a third of young British Muslims believe that the death penalty should apply for apostasy. ” (Full BBC article below).

I checked on this on what appeared to be non-extreme Islamic websites.
The death penalty for deliberately leaving Islam is not the majority view, but it’s easy enough to find it openly advocated:

“That is why the Muslim jurists are unanimous that apostates must be punished, yet they differ as to determining the kind of punishment to be inflicted upon them. The majority of them… agree that apostates must be executed….
…For example, Ibn `Abbas quoted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as having said, “Whoever changes his religion, then kill him.” Full article below. (The same site expressed counter-views to this one.)

You must weigh all the pros & cons. You should see how your own society locally would look at you. Also you should see what place you will be assigned in the new religion. There are certain religons which assign a very low caste to a convert similar to a dirty animal , so beware. Study first. If you will be treated as equal among the new people and if its beneficial, go for it.

And btw Buddhism welcomes all with a promise of equal treatment.

Depends on where he or she lives.

If the person lives under sharia law (Islamic law), as in Saudi Arabia, then they may me executed for apostasy. That is the law (which I disagree with). Attempting to convert a Muslim is also a punishable offense, which is why those South Korean Christians were in such big trouble in Afghanistan a few years ago.

This is how your question should read:

“Can a Muslim convert into another religion without being killed?”

The answer is “not likely”. Apostasy in Islam is punishable by death. In many Islamic countries this happens a lot to anyone who converts. That’s why Iran has some of the highest execution rates per year in the world (look it up if you don’t believe me).

Read the Wikipedia article about it. The first line stated:
“The four major Sunni and the one major Shia Madh’hab (schools of Islamic jurisprudence) agree that a sane adult male apostate must be executed.”

What a peaceful, tolerant religion, eh?

No. What is worse, sometimes they are killed for it. Yes, it is against the Koran to change religions.

A devout Muslim family would probably react in the same way a devout Christian family. Although in some regions, it’s punishable by death to convert out of Islam, families rarely turn in their own. They are usually just shunned, hoping they will just come back to the religion.

I’m not an expert, but from what I gathered, many Muslims would have more to fear for converting than Christians do here.

Muslim extremists make modern Christian extremists look like pussycats. Though Christianity has had it’s fair share of bloodshed, historically.

I’m saying that as an atheist.

Scorned? You mean “killed” right?

Yes, some Muslims in the west can leave Islam without being killed, but what is always true is that they are certain to lose their entire family. Ive never heard of a Muslim who left Islam and still was on speaking terms with his family. I would be happy to recant this remark if any Muslim can paste any reasonable evidence to the contrary. Anyone who leaves Islam…always…always…always loses his family. They will **** and curse any family member who leaves, if they do not kill him/her.

Of course, in Islamic countries, leaving Islam is very dangerous. You risk your life.

Depends on where he lives. Probably other Muslims would be very scornful, and it certainly is against the Koran. But at least he would not get killed for it in a western democracy.

Of course people would not like it, but the Quran says there is no compulsion in religion. So they can’t do anything to you but try to convert you back.