Would you date someone who has different religious beliefs?

I'm agnostic, so I tend to take a dim view of both religion and atheism.

However, most religious people I know wouldn't just pray if there was actually something they could do about something...

I am now known as Flyboy.

That girl believes what she does not because of the religion, but because she thinks she can use religion as substitute for dealing with a problem.

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

I'd pretty much have to 90% of the time, seeing as pagans of any kind are an extreme religious minority (back in high school, there was me—a modern Irish bard—and a standard Wiccan) and have a tendency to not talk about it until we trust people enough not to laugh at us. Or try to convert us. Or lump us in with the teenagers trying to rebel against their parents.

I would be a bit worried about mentioning it, but as long as he's rational, interesting, and trustworthy, then I'd date him.

edited 4th Dec '11 11:59:48 AM by Sharysa

Unless I found the beliefs or the manner they were expressed terrible, yes.

In terms of a serious, long-lasting relationship, up until and including marriage? Not so sure there. It seems like at a certain point, one of us should probably convert, and I have no plans to. I suppose if I really loved them, however, we could make it work.

I have no problem with it just in terms of a casual relationship, though. A date isn't that big a deal.

edited 4th Dec '11 12:03:44 PM by Ultrayellow

Except for 4/1/2011. That day lingers in my memory like...metaphor here...I should go.

I have known people of differing religions who were in long term relationships, and were happy, or at least visibly happy. I don't see a reason why either of us would have to convert just so we can be in a committed relationship. We're in a relationship because we love each other, not because we are the same religion!

edited 4th Dec '11 12:08:54 PM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

Religious belief, either theistic, atheistic, or otherwise, tends not to be rational, anne. In a perfect world, that would be true, but we're not in a perfect world...

I am now known as Flyboy.

When did I ever say anything about rationality?

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

Rationality should dictate that the person is more important than the religion they subscribe to.

Rationality is hard to come by with religion, though.

I am now known as Flyboy.

being an atheist- yes, so long as their religiosity isn't so deeply entrenched that it makes me facepalm every day. fundies are obviously right out.

But the fact that being religious is not "rational" does not imply that a religious person is any less rational than a non-religious one. And believing that a person's religion is more important than the person is not an inherent part of being religious.

Besides, disbelief in god/gods/kami/æsir/whatever is no more rational than belief in the same.

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

I didn't say that religious people were irrational, nor that theism is any more irrational than atheism. For the purposes of this discussion, I'm defining "religious people" as "anybody who isn't agnostic."

I am now known as Flyboy.

I'm not sure if I'd consider myself agnostic or atheist. My views are more on par with agnosticism, but I've called myself an atheist all this time so might as well continue.

I really don't have any problem with religion and spirituality as long as they weren't ridiculous about it/weren't biased against other people because of it. So I'd have no problem dating someone with different religious beliefs generally.

edit: Oh, and USAF- since you said "Rationality is hard to come by with religion", you would be saying religious people as a whole are generally irrational, no?

edited 4th Dec '11 12:34:12 PM by Sigil

Fine, I whittle my post down to this argument:

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

@Sigil,

You can be an agnostic atheist.

And, I consider atheism to be a religious belief—after all, its only basis is a lack of evidence, not a wealth of evidence—so the statement of rationality applies to them, as well. There are simply many less atheists than there are theists, an thus less shitheads via simple probability.

@anne,

This is true. But more often than not, "sameness factor" in terms of religious and/or political beliefs will influence a person's dating habits, even if it's not really good to let it.

I am now known as Flyboy.

In this house we only drink Dr. Pepper, the most agnostic of soda. It can't decide whether or not it should be a cola or a root beer.

Joking aside, I find your assertions to be mistaken. Atheism is a rejection of religion, not a religion itself. Is it a "belief"? Perhaps, but one derived from and supported by direct evidence, not faith. The difference is subtle, but profound.

As for myself refusing to engender a romantic relationship with a religious person, to me that is a perfectly justified action to take. You wouldn't date someone that you do not find attractive, would you? What about someone from the other side of the political spectrum? Or a cat/dog person when you are a dog/cat person? I agree that sometimes love can blossom despite such differences, but I am not willing to take that risk. There would be conflict between us - perhaps she desires a chapel wedding, or I don't wish to deal with her friends trying to get me to come to church, or we can't have intelligent discussions about evolution - somewhere, somehow, her being religious and me not would lead to disagreement, and I just see it building up over time until it explodes and ends the relationship. So we commit to something that would inevitably fail?

Well, I would if I could. I care more for personality, I guess.

Atheism is a rejection of organized religon, but not religion. I have yet to meet an atheist who can provide something other than a lack of evidence as a basis for their religious beliefs. Thus, they can prove that religion is scientifically baseless as far as we can prove; not that atheism is any less baseless.

I am now known as Flyboy.

Dating I wouldn't really have a problem with it unless they kept bringing it up all the time. In a longer term relationship or at least living together it might cause some problems. Like if they want to drag me along to whatever services they attend or have a religious wedding, I might have some issues with that.

Wait, what? this is new to me.

I though atheism was disbelief in any kind of deity, implied by the word which literally means "no god".

Only a small number of religions are actually organized, and those are the major ones. Beyond that, most religions aren't organized much further beyond connected groups/communities of people who practice the religion and the priestly figures who may or may not lead them. This is similar to how only a small number of languages in the world are an official language of a nation with a standard dialect and standard spelling and grammatical rules, yet there are close to seven thousand language in the world.

When you say organized religion, do you refer to religious institutions such as the Catholic Church?

edited 4th Dec '11 1:09:59 PM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

Atheism is specifically a lack of belief, nothing else. It is most definitely not a "belief" in anything. An atheist doesn't need evidence because they're not asserting anything. I guess "strong" atheists exist, who hold that there is definitely no god, but that sort of atheist seems to be a small minority. The misconception that atheism requires faith drives me insane.

Anyway, I'm an atheist and I would consider dating a religious person.

edited 4th Dec '11 1:08:10 PM by Pingu

While we can never prove or disprove god, I operate on the basis that what little comfort and charity religion provides cannot possibly counteract the ills it has sowed throughout the ages, and thus active opposition to religion is a moral obligation to those not caught in its web for the good of all humanity. As an agnostic who refuses to take sides, you are passively allowing the spread of a harmful influence on our society.

And since that last paragraph will undoubtedly upset folks, here's my evidence so you can better understand my point of view:

1. The general opposition to biology research because it is seen as "playing God", a.k.a. "unnatural". Some religions would have half the planet starve in order to prevent the use of genetically enhanced rice.

2. The systemic destruction of countless cultures and folk beliefs through missionary activity. You may think that it stopped after colonialism went out of style, but you'd be dead wrong. Christians are actively participating in cultural genocide on a global scale, depriving future generations of oral and folk traditions that we should instead be striving to preserve.

3. The vast waste of wealth given over to the construction of churches, exemption from taxation for these properties, and filling said churches with pointless treasures. Without religion, that money would be poured directly into improving our lot as a species, as opposed to an attempt to please a deity who thus far has failed to make his presence known.

4. The Giddeons alone have an enormous carbon footprint.

5. Most conflicts worldwide are over religious differences. The Middle East is the Most Triumphant Example, but you could say the same of the Cold War, the troubles in sub-saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Mexico (at least, the conflict in the south between the Mayan descendants and the northern Spanish).

6. The AIDS crisis in Africa. If not for the Catholic opposition to condoms, we could have ended it cheaply ages ago. So many deaths, so much suffering, and all over one faith's issues with a thin sheet of latex. How can I, as a caring human being, sit idly by and accept this at face value? The answer is that I cannot. Being agnostic may be easy, but being an atheist comes with an obligation to stop the petty and miserable suffering perpetuated in the name of religion.

Yes, like the Catholic Church.

Atheism is a reigious belief because the idea of there being no god is equally baseless to the idea of there being a god. There is no actual evidence for either position, and a lack of evidence is not tantamount to evidence for the negative assumption.

I'm an agnostic theist, and yet I acknowledge that this qualification of theism is baseless. Ultimately, religious beliefs cannot be proven in a meaningful way in the world we inhabit; this includes atheism.

I am now known as Flyboy.

You are opposing religious people with certain political views, not religion itself.

It's like assuming all Muslims are like the Al Qaeda or PLO, or all Catholics would support a Crusade or agree with the Pope.

If you oppose the things that people like Al Qaeda do and believe in, oppose Al Qaeda, don't oppose Islam.

edited 4th Dec '11 1:14:49 PM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

Religion isn't inherently bad though. It doesn't need to include any of that stuff. While religion spreads some beliefs that are bad, those are the things that should be prevented - religion itself shouldn't be stopped.

The idea of there being no god is not equally baseless. The religious ones are the ones making an assertion, the atheists are not. You generally don't believe something until you have evidence. I'm sure if any atheist was presented with evidence they would believe right away, and I'm sure the large majority of atheists are at least open to the possibility of there being a god. It's not the same.