I think boys go where the girls are and hope for a connection. Something they can use to gain attention with them. Religion is a way for parents to get the kids hooked up early.

Yes, if she is religious, it is very easy to say I love you for your faith and closeness to god, and by definition she will believe anything. lol

A flawed study

I think that it’s women who push the “spiritual” in some manner (even if that’s as Astronomy, Tarot, New Age, or Catholicism/Christian) and men merely take it over, become “Leaders,” in order to get girls. We know that’s why musicians took up their instrument.

@rainmanjr Perfect.

@rainmanjr Sticks, is that true, lol?

If only we could, Bob. The problem is for those of us like me, who live in pretty religious areas. We end up with relatively few women in our dating pools that are non-believers, or open-minded enough to accept a non-believer for dating. And then there's the women on Agnostic, who usually live far away and even then are not willing to date LD or relocate to an area like mine, and for good reason, if they already live somewhere more progressive and diverse. Or somewhere with better weather as well.

@TomMcGiverin Yeah sucks big time, at least there are far fewer evangelical women here even if not many agnostic or atheist then add age to it, still hard but not good one

@TomMcGiverin amen!

That's exactly what I was going to say- they think we worship the devil because that's what they are told. If you aren't with God, you're with Satan

I know but then that had all that guilt, and fear that God would punish them.

Yes it's not just belief in religion, but a whole lot of baggage that goes with it, from my experience. Belief in religion, or not, isn't just an opinion issue, but different ways of looking at the world and life. While opposites attract, this is a big divide to reconcile.

Yes I'm not really comfortable being around religious people generally. Exceptions apart I always feel, if they are overtly religious, that I'm in the presence of immature people like children, and it's uncomfortable to me. Plus it brings out my worst side.

I actually enjoy meeting religious people. It is a pure joy when you ask them questions about what is written in the bible and they have no clue.

In psychology this is known as a para social relationship, and it can be any figure we don't know personally but they live in our heads, like a movie star, an historical or mythical figure, including and especially religious figures. It's very interesting to me. Religious people mostly don't know they have a para social relationship with their religious figure.

I call it "Fucking for Jesus"

I'm glad that you value being ethical and honest. I have known plenty of men thru jobs I worked that would do anything to get laid, including going to churches to troll for women and pretending to be Holy Joe in order to do it, or even to troll AA meetings and pretend to be an alcoholic. Most people have no idea what kind of male scum we are competing with in the dating game. But I suppose that accounts for some of why so many single women in the dating game are so cynical and suspicious of all men in general, since many of them have been burned by assholes like this.

@TomMcGiverin Interesting that you turn it on men rather than wonder why so many women are found in such groups.

@rainmanjr I can only guess as to whether women are at those groups out of pure motives and genuine interest in religion or sobriety, respectively, since I have not been privy to their inner thoughts about the opposite sex and dating. My gender and my work experiences have not given me access to their private motives about those groups the way I have by working with men. So I may be wrong about women being more honorable about attending those groups than some men, but I doubt I am wrong about this. Maybe some women here on Agnostic, who have had access to the motives of other women, will weigh in on this?

I can be an asshole at certain times and with certain people, as I have a low tolerance for bullshit and those who play games. But, like Fox Mulder in The X-Files, had with his partner Scully, I had my own "human credential" with my late wife, proving that I was indeed not only human, but a good person....

Oh yeah, the bias is out there. But here's the thing, I believe that women are very methodical about sizing up men for involvement, factoring in all factors on the plus and minus side. I don't think being atheist alone is sufficient, unless the women is a religious nut, in which case she looks specifically for the love that God has sent her (and if he has a shit load of money that'd help)