Anybody hold the opposite Religious stance of your spouse/girlfriend?

[air-cool-me]

im pretty sure this is a bit more caustic then opposite political stances...

I dated a catholic Italian girl...

She engaged me only once over religious issues.. it as a result of an argument over evolution.

I was trying to be nice….. but she kept attacking….i used the word “brainwash” and the conversation was over.. so was the sex...



We didn’t date very long after that…


i don't want this to turn into a religious battle... just.. how do you deal?

[TerryBPP]

You actually converstate w/ your girlfirend? Thats your first mistake.

[IROC]

I hold religious views that are in opposition to the vast majority of the US. My wife is more "mainstream".

Many people have a very strong emotional attachment to their religious beliefs. I think that one needs to be cautious when wading into that pond as feelings can get hurt very quickly. You have to be comfortable having your beliefs challenged or it's not going to work. Many "people of faith" really struggle with this.

Luckily my wife (also an engineer like me) is very logical and rational, so she shares my skepticism on alot of religious issues and we have found a common ground there.

Bottom line is that, agree with them or not, you need to respect other people's right to believe whatever they want (even if they're wrong).

Mike

[legion]

Originally posted by air-cool-me
I dated a catholic Italian girl...

So did I.

She was as anti-Catholic as they get...but she still went to church every Sunday. I never called her on it. I avoided the issue. I didn't want the lovin' to stop. Her mother was big into the religious guilt trips.

I'm still convinced that the most militant anti-christians are former Catholics. They think that all Christianity is about guilt, repressions, and suffering. They don't even realize that not all Catholicism is about that....

[cashflyer]

Me: Protestant (Scotch decent)
Her: Irish Catholic

When we got married (in N Ireland) I was asked very directly by an official if there would be any "trouble". The military still posted a detachment nearby for the duration of the wedding.

It's quite a site to behold when your arrival at the church involves passing men with automatic weapons and an APC!!

[Jamie79SC]

Before we got married

Me: Agnostic to the very verge or athiest (but hey, anything's possible)
Her: Catholic - mass twice a week

26 years later -

Me: Still agnostic, but you know, really more and more things seeem possible.
Her: Nominally Catholic, but mass only a few times a year. Strangely, I see her as being more spiritual now than ever.

The key to making a pairing like this work is respect and a willingness to keep an open mind. I know without a doubt that I'm a better person for being with her and her belief system and I think that she would say the same about living with me.

[Jims5543]

Wife and I are both of the same religion but I want to walk away and it breaks her heart so I go through the motions to keep her happy and me happy. I do not like organized religion and think I could teach my children better away from all the hypocrits.

My cousin, I will never know how he does it. He is the one responsible for getting me into Porsche's and has owned many sweet 911's. He is Roman Catholic, his wife Jewish. I could never understand how it worked for them raising kids but it did/does and they are an awesome couple that I aspire to be like.

[HardDrive]

Me: Agnostic raise in a agnostic home.....but certainly not atheist.

Her: Hindu raised in India.

Result: Spiritual people who can pray together, and don't feel the need to argue about who or what God is.

[JavaBrewer]

Me: Agnostic
Her: Still inactive Mormon

We have a tremendous relationship and can talk about anything without argument, well, except for my parents, but that's a different thread.

[grankin]

My wife was raised Catholic, I was raised Congregational (even taught Sunday School), but both of us tied a can to the religious thing while in college. Our daughter is non-religious, but I'm making her take the "Bible As Literature" course in high school this year, as she has not had any religious education, and I think that knowledge is essential to understand most of western literature and culture. Don't have to believe in it to know what it means and has meant.

A Cheesehead

[wludavid]

Me: apathetic (I don't care if there is a god or not)
Her: baptist

She didn't keep me around much after we had a very frank discussion of our beliefs. She's a good girl, but I really can't help but think, "good riddance."