Is it okay for an Atheist to date a religious person?
This is gonna make people upset either way, because if I say, "Yeah, it's totally fine for atheists to date Christians," it's kind of as if I'm saying, "Oh, atheist beliefs don't really matter, you know. It shouldn't be that big of a deal."
And if I say no, it's like, "Oh well, what do you have against Christians or other religious people?" I think the thing to keep in mind is that your values, you and your partner's values, do have to be in line.
And I think atheists can date religious people where okay, maybe they disagree on the God question, but they are together in line with all the other big issues in their life.
They make decisions the same way. They have the same values when it comes to social issues: gay marriage, abortion... I don't know; some of those big questions.
They could still fall on the same page with that stuff. I think that's far more important than whether you believe in God and he or she doesn't.
I think it really does get really touchy when you talk about maybe having kids and how you want to raise these kids when one parent believes in God and one vehemently does not.
And that's something people have to work out, I think, for themselves, because I think it's one thing to say, you know, "Daddy believes this and it's right. And Mommy believes that, and she's totally wrong."
You definitely don't want to have a relationship where that's what you're telling the kids. So, that's something people have to work out for themselves.
But again, I think it's possible to date someone even if you have different beliefs about God because, I mean, I know very few couples where both of them are on the same page about everything.
There are some serious differences, even between two people who love each other very much. And God's just another one of those issues.
The bigger thing is that you can have a discussion. You know, if you feel contempt for the other person because they don't-- because they do believe in God, that's going to be a problem.
If you have contempt for someone because they don't believe in God and you fear for their eternal soul, that's going to be a problem. So, it just kind of depends on the nature of those beliefs.
But I think that's an interesting question because people get it all the time. If you're an atheist, in a lot of places you don't really have the choice of dating another atheist.
The only people around you are people who at least kind of believe in God. So, you kind of have to. You don't really have an option. My friend Jesse asked a question I really liked once.
He said: Forget the question of would you date someone religious? Would you date someone who would date someone religious?
Because if you are willing to date someone who's totally fine with people of any religion, they must not take religion seriously, and maybe that's a whole another issue that you have to deal with.
Originally published by Hemant Mehta on the Atheist Voice. Published on Fadewblogs by Dave Martin.
Disclaimer: This article is published on Fadewblogs with the permission of the author.
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