Atheists, would you marry a religious person?

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  1. Hypocrism's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    (Original post by richiemayne)
    This thread has proven to me a suspicion that I've had for sometime; that a lot of (not all) atheists are actually more intolerant of religious people than a lot of (not all) religious people are of they.

    Which is strange and slightly disturbing. At least a religious person has a fundamental purpose why they would choose to marry someone of their religion; that they should raise children in their religion or whatever. An atheist actively choosing not to be in a relationship with a religious person because of their religion is nothing more than shallow intolerance.
    There's a whole load of issues between a religious person and an atheist, including for example:

    Sexual activity
    Homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, ...
    Worshiping as a family
    Raising children in the religion
    Contraception

    People break up or divorce for far smaller reasons than these. Hence an atheist might just decide that it's not worth trying with religious people because of these issues. Not me-but I can see pretty easily their point of view.
  2. Steezy's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    Depends what they were like about it... Pretty sure it would end in arguments though.

    My GF atm was brought up catholic and when asked, she says she believes but does she ****. She just doesn't have the balls to say she doesn't believe.

    So it works with us.
  3. Fuzzy12345's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    I like a religious person, question is, would she want to marry an atheist?
  4. As_Dust_Dances_'s Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    I most certainly wouldn't want to marry a Jehovah's Witness!
  5. RobertWhite's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    Yes, I would marry a religious person. I would not however, marry someone who takes the Bible literally or who is obsessed or solely devoted to it. There would be the problem of whether our kids would be brought up under a religion. I would allow them to but would also teach them evolution and other theories so they can make up their own mind. I would prefer them to be brought up as a libertarian, modern Christian (the most likely religious person I'd probably end up marrying) so that they understand homosexuality is not wrong too etc...
    Last edited by RobertWhite; 04-07-2012 at 12:49.
  6. Occams Chainsaw's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    (Original post by thomaskurian89)
    By "religious person", I mean someone who believes in religious fairy tales (like the miracles of prophets) and is absolutely sure that god, heaven etc. exist.

    I'm an atheist and I wouldn't marry someone like that. In fact, the only kind of person I'm sure I won't marry is a religious person.
    religious = ignorant.

    I can't tolerate ignorance.

    Does that answer your question?
  7. richiemayne's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    (Original post by Hypocrism)
    There's a whole load of issues between a religious person and an atheist, including for example:

    Sexual activity
    Homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, ...
    Worshiping as a family
    Raising children in the religion
    Contraception

    People break up or divorce for far smaller reasons than these. Hence an atheist might just decide that it's not worth trying with religious people because of these issues. Not me-but I can see pretty easily their point of view.
    Why would there HAVE to be such divisions though? I certainly don't agree with my girlfriend on quite a few social issues but that doesn't mean we can't be in a good relationship together. Likewise, if I were to break up with her and start seeing a Muslim who was equally as tolerant as I about being in a 'mixed religion' relationship, possibly marriage, why would it matter at all that we have different religious views?
  8. 3nTr0pY's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    (Original post by richiemayne)
    This thread has proven to me a suspicion that I've had for sometime; that a lot of (not all) atheists are actually more intolerant of religious people than a lot of (not all) religious people are of they.

    Which is strange and slightly disturbing. At least a religious person has a fundamental purpose why they would choose to marry someone of their religion; that they should raise children in their religion or whatever. An atheist actively choosing not to be in a relationship with a religious person because of their religion is nothing more than shallow intolerance.
    I think you're getting confused with friendship and acceptance versus marriage.

    I have plenty of very strong religious friends but it is very unlikely that I would marry one. That is because they have a completely different outlook on life to me and would live a very different lifestyle, going to places of worship on a regular basis. So it has got nothing to do with intolerance.

    Am I intolerant of gay people because I would never marry one?
  9. carolvision's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    I'd quite strongly prefer to marry a non-religious person, because my parents are religious, and I imagine his will be too. (Hi Asia!) So to pretend what we'll have to prentend will be bad enough, but to do it alone would be really hard
  10. Pinkhead's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    (Original post by carolvision)
    I'd quite strongly prefer to marry a non-religious person, because my parents are religious, and I imagine his will be too. (Hi Asia!) So to pretend what we'll have to prentend will be bad enough, but to do it alone would be really hard
    Pretend? What do you mean? :confused:
  11. Hypocrism's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    (Original post by richiemayne)
    Why would there HAVE to be such divisions though? I certainly don't agree with my girlfriend on quite a few social issues but that doesn't mean we can't be in a good relationship together. Likewise, if I were to break up with her and start seeing a Muslim who was equally as tolerant as I about being in a 'mixed religion' relationship, possibly marriage, why would it matter at all that we have different religious views?
    Because they follow certain beliefs, included in their religion, which may disagree with the views of someone not following that religion.

    These are pretty fundamental things. A lot of non-religious people wouldn't date someone who wants to be abstinent before marriage, or wants to raise their children in the religion.

    The problem stems from the fact that it's such a huge ideological difference and some people think it infers problems in opinion in the future. It's perfectly rational for some atheists to therefore not want to commit to a religious person, and it's perfectly rational for other atheists to want to give it a try.
  12. Lunch_Box's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    Yeah
  13. mrsnicket's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    Nah.
  14. Zakakiragibson's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    Well I'm an 'Atheist' in the loosest sense of the term, and if I ever were to get married, I wouldn't mind managing a religious person, as long as I didn't have to give up sweet glorious bacon, or anything like that. If my wife is religious then that's cool with me, as long as I don't have to go to church or pray, or anything along those lines.
  15. Gruntmobile's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    I think this is a question you can only answer until you fall in love, in which case I'm sure everyone would answer yes :rolleyes:

    Perhaps a better question to ask would be: atheists, could you fall in love with someone who was religious?
  16. Gruntmobile's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    (Original post by richiemayne)
    This thread has proven to me a suspicion that I've had for sometime; that a lot of (not all) atheists are actually more intolerant of religious people than a lot of (not all) religious people are of they.

    Which is strange and slightly disturbing. At least a religious person has a fundamental purpose why they would choose to marry someone of their religion; that they should raise children in their religion or whatever. An atheist actively choosing not to be in a relationship with a religious person because of their religion is nothing more than shallow intolerance.
    By what you're saying, an atheist should be fine with his children possibly being raised religiously, but it's ok for a religious person to not want their children raised as atheists.

    I strongly disagree - atheism is just as strong a belief as any religion - from an atheist's point of view, belief in a religion is a sign of ignorance and close-mindedness that is just as bad as heresy to a religious person.

    At least to a religious person, non-belief is quite clearly caused by either geography or the ability to question, whereas religion is caused by gullibility in many cases, so I think atheism is objectively a more acceptable stance. So why shouldn't atheists be as unwilling to marry a religious person as the other way around?
  17. codle's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    (Original post by As_Dust_Dances_)
    I most certainly wouldn't want to marry a Jehovah's Witness!
    Well they'd probably be shunned by other Jehovah's Witnesses for marrying you, so they probably wouldn't want to marry you either
    But I do get what you mean and agree you!
  18. bottled's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    (Original post by Hypocrism)
    There's a whole load of issues between a religious person and an atheist, including for example:

    Sexual activity
    Homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, ...
    Worshiping as a family
    Raising children in the religion
    Contraception

    People break up or divorce for far smaller reasons than these. Hence an atheist might just decide that it's not worth trying with religious people because of these issues. Not me-but I can see pretty easily their point of view.
    Out of interest. how many times do you get into arguments with friends over these issues which results in the two of you never speaking to one another again?
  19. Slax's Avatar
    • Junior Member
    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    No.
  20. Bonnier's Avatar
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    Re: Atheists, would you marry a religious person?
    Lol atheists thinking they have any kind of authority over the God-instituted practice of marriage.
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