Girlfriend is religious, I'm atheist.. Can this work?

groen said:
A religious girl friend is one thing but a religious mother of your children is something completely different. There is no way i would tolerate passing on any religious non sense to my own children.
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it doesnt really work like that anyway..my best mate isnt religious in any shape or form. His wife was brought up a catholic and still is a practising catholic

both the kids went to catholic school, but the eldest has gone on to study geology and paleontology. The youngest (16 this year) is also not picked up anything religious in school and is strictly based in science

both stopped going to church through their own choice and their mother didnt push it. They grew up and learned their own way. lets be honest if you force something on kids anyway they will rebel against it, so it was just better to let them find their own path.
 
Freefaller said:
I think religious education is really important for children to understand all the different cultures/values and morals that are taught, and how things are perceived by different cultures. I don't think it's a bad thing that children are brought up with their parent's faith - as we have seen from this thread a lot of people were brought up in such environments and have either moved over to different beliefs or just shunned them altogether. My uncle for example was Christened Greek Orthodox like me, this is very spiritual, passionate and over the top in many respects, however, it also embedded in culture in that part of the world - people wear a cross, and cross themselves when something bad happens out of instinct and upbringing rather than a hard thought out action.

anyway, he couldn't deal with all the "fasaries" (Greek meaning "fuss" basically), and has turned to Buddhism and enjoys that guidance/meaning/spirituality a lot more - it's less OTT and always better integration to his modern lifestyle.
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I totally agree, it's import to teach religion - all religions, ideas & cultures.

I'm in favour of a religious education, but against specific indoctrination. The problem happens when you get some faith schools teaching specific doctrines as fact & science/others as either heretical or fiction.

A school should be responsible & only teach what we know to be true as facts, the rest should be taught I agree but as they are - beliefs.

I mean, I was taught about Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism & Sikhism which greatly enhanced my cultural understanding - was most certainly worth it.

While my school was officially a CoE school, it didn't teach it as fact - just as another belief (which I approve of).

Freefaller said:
I embrace all beliefs - I just don't like people's beliefs being shunned, insulted or people antagonise others for being "weak of mind" because they like to share a moment of faith with themselves.
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I embrace all people, I'll challenge a belief if I disagree with it (if it contradicts with facts for example, or preaches hate & intolerance), or question it out of a desire to understand people.

But it is important for all to try to be respectful indeed.
 
I was brought up as a Roman Catholic by my parents, my mum is RC my dad doesn't give a hoot and as I've grown up I've settled much more on a "religion is a load of old cobblers and causes more trouble than it's worth but if people choose to believe in it then that's fine" mindset.
I'd have no problem with my future children being brought up with a religious belief if that's what my wife wanted as it doesn't fuss me either way and just like me they're free to carry on with it or made their own decision when they grow up.
 
Freefaller said:
Just like vegetarians and non vegetarians living together. Perfectly easy to do with a little bit of give and take. Eh SPW ;)
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I'm not sure who is the heathen in our relationship, me or you... :p

Rossi~ said:
Not sure that's a very good way of putting it. Living with a partner that is a vegetarian is so easy, it's a very small change to 1 element of your life, eating. Where as religion can cover many elements of ones life.
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It's not an entirely serious comparison as Freefaller and I used to share a house for a while but depending on how far you take it vegetarianism can define numerous facets of your life and strongly influence your worldview. It's possible to be extreme in your views about being a vegetarian as it is possible to be extreme in your views about religion or indeed almost anything so perhaps it's not as fanciful a comparison as you might initially think - to take it to extremes probably says more about the person involved than it does about the subject matter though.
 
Just let them be brought up religious, it hardly stops them being a good person - or even an atheist.

I was brought up Roman Catholic, went to RC schools, baptised, confirmed, went to church every week - until my younger brother started to shout out that it was all lies in the middle of mass - and am now very much an atheist/anti-theistic.
 
elmarko said:
I totally agree, it's import to teach religion - all religions, ideas & cultures.

I'm in favour of a religious education, but against specific indoctrination. The problem happens when you get some faith schools teaching specific doctrines as fact & science/others as either heretical or fiction.

A school should be responsible & only teach what we know to be true as facts, the rest should be taught I agree but as they are - beliefs.

I mean, I was taught about Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism & Sikhism which greatly enhanced my cultural understanding - was most certainly worth it.

While my school was officially a CoE school, it didn't teach it as fact - just as another belief (which I approve of).

I embrace all people, I'll challenge a belief if I disagree with it (if it contradicts with facts for example, or preaches hate & intolerance), or question it out of a desire to understand people.

But it is important for all to try to be respectful indeed.
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I don't disagree with that.
 
Freefaller said:
I don't disagree with that.
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I do because they don't teach the children all the bad things that religion has done to mankind over the centuries, that it's caused endless wars resulting in millions of deaths & separation or forming of new countries, good examples are Israel & Palestine, India & Pakistan, two countries mentioned there -Israel & Pakistan that were formed within living memory totally just to keep two different religions apart. Do some of you people actually believe that there is a god up in the clouds that watches all this going on but does nothing?
 
Usher said:
Do some of you people actually believe that there is a god up in the clouds that watches all this going on but does nothing?
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What does it matter if people do? They're well within their rights to believe whatever they wish.
 
Usher said:
I do because they don't teach the children all the bad things that religion has done to mankind over the centuries, that it's caused endless wars resulting in millions of deaths & separation or forming of new countries, good examples are Israel & Palestine, India & Pakistan, two countries mentioned there -Israel & Pakistan that were formed within living memory totally just to keep two different religions apart. Do some of you people actually believe that there is a god up in the clouds that watches all this going on but does nothing?
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If you take the concept of a "God" omnipresent/omnipotent and add to it that we were created (if you believe that, I'm not a creationist by any means) to have our own minds, make our own mistakes and be our own people, then why would we be interfered with? Just so we can get away with doing bad things or mitigate any guilt or responsibility for our actions? Like a blame culture, blaming other things for our own actions?

Same with your example of war - the religions aren't the cause, they are the mitigation. If you genuinely think it's solely based on religion then you clearly either haven't been to the middle east or you're basing it on more typical sensationalism that you read in the daily mail.
 
Started to fade off for me, too many posts to keep up with.

Also, its page 3.


Lets be realistic here for once. We need pics of said girl to properly judge the situation. You know, for....religion?
 
To quote "it's been 2 years and it may be time for a baby"

Who in their right mind is planning a baby after 2 years with a guy who needs to ask for religious advice on a computer forum, before actually discussing this with "said" girlfriend.

Some growing up needs done before the bambino talk begins.
 
The__Malteser said:
Lets be realistic here for once. We need pics of said girl to properly judge the situation. You know, for....religion?
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Haha, I assure you, you would tell me to shut up, convert and do whatever she says :D

IrishChr1s said:
To quote "it's been 2 years and it may be time for a baby"

Who in their right mind is planning a baby after 2 years with a guy who needs to ask for religious advice on a computer forum, before actually discussing this with "said" girlfriend.

Some growing up needs done before the bambino talk begins.
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Really? You think we haven't talked about it..? I realise this is a computer forum, but it's also a forum made of some great people who just donated over £2,500 to a guy with an evil ex-wife. Finally, there is no baby planning at the moment, but I'm aware it will become something we will talk about in the coming future, and I want to be educated and ensure I have a variety of different perspectives before that time comes.
 
Stuff said:
Really? You think we haven't talked about it..?
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I came across a little harsh, I apologize for that. I lucked out and my missus is as laid back about religion as I am, in fact we both would say we are athiest. It nagged my folks especially my mum, as our daughter wont be getting the usual baptism etc I got as being raised a Roman Catholic.

But, Why raise our child to someone else's standards to keep them happy, I still wonder if she will fit in normally when older. But I've got along perfectly fine without religion, and I know she will also with a supportive and caring family.

If you love the girl, then religion wont matter, my mum was a religious nut job, whereas my dad would openly say it was a load of ole **** in front of all his kids. Don't over think the situation, if and when your child comes along, its religious status will be the last of your worries.
 
IrishChr1s said:
I came across a little harsh, I apologize for that. I lucked out and my missus is as laid back about religion as I am, in fact we both would say we are athiest. It nagged my folks especially my mum, as our daughter wont be getting the usual baptism etc I got as being raised a Roman Catholic.

But, Why raise our child to someone else's standards to keep them happy, I still wonder if she will fit in normally when older. But I've got along perfectly fine without religion, and I know she will also with a supportive and caring family.

If you love the girl, then religion wont matter, my mum was a religious nut job, whereas my dad would openly say it was a load of ole **** in front of all his kids. Don't over think the situation, if and when your child comes along, its religious status will be the last of your worries.
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No problem. I also feel religion isn't at all essential; I was baptised when I was one (:mad:), but I've never been religious at all, and I don't think I've turned out too badly! I'd like to think religion would be the least of my worries, but I highly doubt it would be :(

J05H86UK said:
My father is a priest, my mother and I are atheists.

29 years and they are going strong.
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Very interesting.. How do they feel about each others' beliefs?
 
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