I am an atheist who married my wife, who is a Christian, in a church. That was what she wanted, so I don't have a problem with it. A lie? No. The pastor marrying us knew I was an atheist. He asked a lot of questions, but he was willing to perform the ceremony. I still plan to be married to her and stick by her for our entire lifetime according to our vows, and I still hold my marriage as something to be cherished of of the highest importance in my life. We have a great marriage and have been married for nearly 4 years now.
I also celebrate Christmas, by the way. It's one of my favorite holidays. I celebrate it because it is a time to be around your family, to exchange gifts, and to show each other that you care for one another. It is a fun and happy family time, with or without religion.
So you see, it is possible for us all the get along. The religious, and the not, that is. What are your opinions about this?
2006-12-01 05:43:08 · 22 answers · asked by Kyleontheweb 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Sorry about the typos.
2006-12-01 05:49:19 · update #1
A lot of great answer here. Thank so much everyone for your responses. I'm gonna leave best answer up to the voters.
~Kyle
2006-12-03 02:07:38 · update #2
Having trouble deciding the best answer, lots of good ones here! I especially appreciate all the warm comments and those of you who shared similar experiences.
~Kyle
2006-12-03 02:09:12 · update #3
Ok... so you married her where she wanted to be married. No big deal. And you celebrate what has become one of the biggest commercial and secular holidays around. Also not a big deal.
I know we can all get along. My husband believes in the existence of "higher powers" and I'm an atheist... we haven't killed each other for it yet!
2006-12-01 05:44:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 2⤋
I think it is okay for you being an atheist and your wife a christian. I'm a christian and my bf is an atheist. We are fine with it as long we don't discuss religion like there is no God or it is one. Well we might fight over things like who's country is better since hes british and Im american. Stuff like that. I'm okay with the fact that he doesn't believe in God or anything and more is on the evolution thing. Personally I'm like torn between the two so I'm just open minded. I think you and wife should be able to have a happy life regardless of your religions if you and her really love each other.
And the Christmas thing. you can like just focus on the Santa Claus thing and gift giving like you already do. lol
Hope that helped
2006-12-02 12:11:07 · answer #2 · answered by Shearson 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i think its all good. Granted since i do follow Christ i wish you would because i think you are making a bigger mistake than anyone could possibly make, but that from my perspective. Bit the fact of the matter is it is really cool that you got married in a church because your wife wanted it, and that you celebrate Christmas too. Christmas and church are the same thing anyways, in and of themselves they are just rituals, its what you do when you experience them that makes them worship towards God. You could honestly do both all you wanted and still not be praticing Christianity. I think its cool how tolerant and accepting you are.
2006-12-01 05:47:27 · answer #3 · answered by Hafeman 5000 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I agree with you - it can be done, and simply.
While some religious person may not want to partake in a non-religion tradition, or a different religion's tradition, an athiest should feel fairly comfortable partaking in a religious tradition. Its not a lie, really, because who are you lying to? If you don't have a religion, you're not betraying anybody by partaking.
Good question.
2006-12-01 05:45:59 · answer #4 · answered by jveretto0804 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Do not wonder even many other religious believers celebrate christmas on occasional basis. I am sure that many christians celebrate ceremonies of other religions.
2006-12-01 05:50:57 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Both my wife and I were practical atheists when we got married in her church. Since then we learned of our hypocrisy and experienced a genuine spiritual birth with a life change. Lots of people get married in churches who have no idea of the true church. They only see it as an organization of man. And, humanly speaking, it does have its faults.
2006-12-01 05:48:44 · answer #6 · answered by John 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Thats cool. I have been with mine for 10 yrs now and she is a christian and I am a atheist, we get along great.
2006-12-01 05:50:44 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
That may have worked for you, but it's a rarity from what I've seen.
I attended a wedding of two friends in a catho-lice building. They and all our other mutual friends were harassed constantly by the pushers - oops, ushers - because we wouldn't stand or kneel and spew their godcrap. I'm white and an atheist, but it REALLY pissed off the bride, groom, and our other mutual friends, because many of them were hindus and *clearly* were not there for the religion. All we did was sit quietly for the two hours but they wouldn't leave us alone.
And by the way, my friends, the bride and groom, had gotten guarantees from the pedopriest _before_ the wedding that such harassment of non-catholics wouldn't happen. The catho-lice cult _lied_ to my friends and nearly ruined their wedding.
.
2006-12-01 05:54:24 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Sounds like you have a nice life. Congratulation! If I had been the minister of that church you would have had to go elsewhere though... Jim
2006-12-01 06:01:26 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
When you make a conscious, rational choice of not believing IN god, you are stating your belief OF god, as non-existent.
So you do have a belief, it just happens to be equal to zero.
Zero is a number.
Sounds like you have a good life,
M xmas
2006-12-01 05:57:51 · answer #10 · answered by highlander 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋