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Relationships

Do you believe a relationship can be successful if the parties have opposing religious belief systems? (For example, a Christian and an Atheist.)

LadyNikki 4 June 4
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23 comments

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4

No. I believe a positive relationship should be based on mutual respect and honesty. As an atheist, I can not respect a person who bases their belief system on the dishonest premise that faith (belief without evidence) is a methodology to determine (Truth) things that are testable and demonstrated to be correct with evidence.

4

No. Not at all.

The number of posts I've read, written by people who were in turmoil because of this very issue - I've lost count.

Don't do it.

3

CAN be successful, sure there are plenty of anecdotal examples.

My best friend is a lot smarter than I am, he figured out religion is BS in elementary school. He's married to a social Catholic who doesn't believe in hell. Their daughter goes to Catholic school and they even attend church every few weeks for the kid's benefit.

I think it would be a lot harder if my buddy was anti-theist or his wife were devoutly nutbag.

Heck, I even dated a satanist 🙂

3

It would depend upon the degree of conviction. Someone who identifies as a Christian because their parents were Christian, attends church on Christmas, and pays little attention to the ideology would be immeasurably different than someone who never shuts up about Jesus Christ, denies evolution, believes in talking snakes and donkeys and a young / flat Earth, and thinks that virgin births and zombies are credible explanations to an archaic narrative.

There are even Christian Atheists… those who revere the teachings of Jesus but reject all the supernatural attributes. Although rare, such people would have a relatively greater chance of being compatible with those who respect reality.

palex Level 6 June 4, 2018
3

It all depends upon the people involved and what they can cope with -If they are strong enough to allow other ideals room in the relationship or not - I apparently had a great grandfather who put a shilling by for the priest each week and a great grandmother, his wife, who bought copies of 'The Awful disclosures of Maria Monk' & threw them at him - Entertaining stories of mixed marriages, I wish I could have been an onlooker but wasnt even born then.

3
3

Sure, but I think both people have to be content with their own beliefs and not feel the need to try and convert the other.
If one person has an interest in learning about the other's beliefs, then perhaps peaceful discussion can take place.

2

I think it greatly depends on either parties fervour in their beliefs. Having said that people tend to attract like minded people so while possible it seems unlikely.

2

All the research on relationships points to the fact that the more similar the parties, the easier the relationship will be. (I'm not saying easy -- I'm saying easier.) Any basic differences such as SES, or race, or religion or culture are going to make it more difficult. That's because these basic traits influence how we think (what's ok, what's normal, what's crazy, what we eat for meals and when we eat them, how we spend our money, how much we educate our kids and how.......) So when two people of different religious faiths get together it can be difficult -- especially if both really feel strongly. Another complicating factor is the life stage of the individuals. Often young couples say they don't care that much about religion, but when they get older and have children, they move closer to the religion. So then conflict occurs.
If you have two religions that each identifies the other as evil, then I think you have a really, really rough road ahead.

2

It creates challenges but it can be successful. Like with many other things it depends on how much each party is willing to compromise and/or put up with. I became an atheist after being married over ten years. We are still together but there is definitely a consistent tension and it's particularly difficult with a child involved. I would not choose this type of relationship under any other circumstances.

2

Some people associate with certain belief systems casually, it doesn't really impact their day to day lives. For people like that I could see a relationship working out. That, to me, is the only exception. People who take their beliefs or oppositions seriously need somebody who shares a similar mentality. I couldn't deal with a Christian partner, not just because of them but the Christian family that is most likely attached.

2

Like anything else, opposing view points are only an issue if they are put in front of the relationship. If someone loves Coke and the other loves Pepsi and neither will budge or meet in the middle, they'll fail.

2

I think it can in the short term, but not in the long term. At some point one is going to change the others mind.

Or terminate the relationship.

2

Absolutely. It helps when we share religious views. But to refuse a relationship based on trivial things like belief systems, it’s probably a bad coupling in the first place.

If it's so trivial, the theist can become an atheist - no?

They're only trivial if you're an atheist.

Trivial? lol

1

I think it can work in some cases, but there needs to be a good understanding of what will happen regarding the bringing up of children.

Coffeo Level 8 June 18, 2018
1

Sure why not. There's about...what...2,500 gods worshipped on earth, so they only disagree on one and agree on the other 2,499 🙂

ipdg77 Level 8 June 17, 2018
1

I think a friendship could survive but I doubt anything more than that could. I am a life long atheist and can have friendships with others of any creed (so long as we have a non proseletysing pact, and have good humour. When I was a tutor on a counselling course we had quite a few religious people most were really good fun - others were unreachable and never finished the course.So I suppose it depends upon the people and their disposition.

jacpod Level 8 June 11, 2018
1

Yes, my grandparents on my father's side were a good example. I would think it is rare.

1

I Envision a large ship with four funnels and an iceberg they get together and it doesn't work out well

1

I went off on an angry antichristian rant this weekend. I believe in live and let live, I'll be as polite as you let me and how badly I react is directly proportional is how entitled they feel to impose their beliefs on me. So clearly yes for some people, probably not often though, it is an important and thorny issue and christians are encouraged to proselytize

1

That would largely depend upon each individual preferences.

1

Maybe not the most ideal of situations but it could work depending on how zealous the parties are on their beliefs.

0

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