Would you ever date/marry someone who didn't share the same religious beliefs as you?

Question

What if you were a Christian, but the person you wanted to date/marry was an atheist? What would you do? If you didn't have a very strong faith and wanted to date/marry an atheist, would you risk weakening your faith even more? How would this effect you and your partner?

Answer 1

I did. It was not a big issue as he did not appose my wishes to have the children baptized, confirmed, and that we attended church. The problem is if both parents are not both practicing the religion, it confuses the children and will on into adulthood. Sad.

Answer 2

People date with the idea that it will lead to marriage or else they should. Any date could be the start of the long lasting relationship that leads to marriage. Having said that to answer the questions as posed. I would not marry an atheist because they stand against everything I believe in, I would not date them if I knew before the date they were atheist. If you don't have strong faith this would be out of the question regardless of their religious background. I would not let this thing get to the place where they were considered my partner. It is not just atheist. I respect their religion or the lack in belief of God. To be unequally yoked, regardless of the belief is a disaster waiting to happen.

Answer 3

I'm not a Christian, but there aren't really that many of what I am, so sometimes it seems like I have no choice then to date someone outside of my religion!

When a relationship becomes serious, you have to set certain ground rules about what is off-limits. If practicing your religious beliefs is something that you must do seperately, then this needs to be stressed early on. Each person MUST respect the others' right to worship in their own way.

The problems -- I've noticed (and no offense intended) -- with Christians marrying outside of their faith is that alot of them believe that anyone who doesn't belong to Christianity will burn forever in Hell. And I just can't see myself making a forever commitment to someone who I thought was going to suffer eternal damnation without trying to prevent it. I'm not saying that a Christian would try to convert a atheist, Pagan, etc out of disrespect, it would probably actually be out of love for that person. But I don't see how you could spend your entire life with someone that you believed was going to suffer and not try to prevent it. Obviously you would ... that's what love is about.

The flipside is that I've seen it work out great, though. I guess its a decision that's between you, the person you're interested in, and your God (if you have one).

Answer 4

No, I would never marry an atheist. My man has to be a Christian because I would not want to hide my faith nor could I. An atheist would not be happy with me, I can tell you that right now. In fact Christianity teaches that we should not be unequally yoke to an unbeliever. I would find out what he is before marriage and if not Christian I just wouldn't get involved. There is a point before things get too serious where you can leave without getting or causing hurt.

Answer 5

I'm married, and made a decision while dating that I wouldn't date someone of another faith. There are enough challenges in a marriage, was my mind set.

I'm not saying anyone should follow my lead, and certainly not judging anyone. As a Christian, it is important to consider the importance of being 'unequally yoked' in my opinion.

Answer 6

The Bible counsels as respects 'dating/marry someone who didn't share the same religious beliefs as you'.
In this regards the apostle Paul passes the same wholesome information on to Christians, saying: ‘Marry only in the Lord.’ How can separation from the world be maintained when one selects a mate from the world and then lives so intimately as husband and wife?—Gen. 24:3, 4, 37; 1 Cor. 7:39, NW.
Today, among imperfect humans, a problem facing some Christians is that of selecting a marriage mate. In this a devoted servant of our God [Jehovah] will wisely heed the apostle Paul’s inspired admonition that dedicated Christians should marry believers, thus marrying “only in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 7:39)

This is Jehovah’s will for Christians who choose to wed. Centuries prior to Paul’s day, when God’s people, the Israelites, were to come in contact with the heathen of Canaanland, they were sternly warned: “You must form no marriage alliance with them. Your daughter you must not give to his son, and his daughter you must not take for your son.” Dire consequences would follow disobedience, as God so clearly stated: “For he will turn your son from following me, and they will certainly serve other gods.” Not only would the son or daughter thus yoked fare badly, but parents arranging such a union would incur Jehovah’s wrath, for it was said: “And Jehovah’s anger will indeed blaze against you, and he will certainly annihilate you in a hurry”!—Deut. 7:3, 4.

Finally, in the Christian Greek Scriptures God repeated the counsel: Do not marry someone who is not serving the Lord. The inspired counsel was not, ‘If you find a clean, decent person, it is permissible to court and marry that individual with the hope that he or she may eventually become a Christian.’ Rather, God’s Word clearly says: “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers.” (2 Corinthians 6:14) To marry someone who is not already a baptized Christian would be to disregard that serious counsel.

Answer 7

Date, yes if I ahd no intent of staying in the relationship, we could just break up if there was too mcuh conflict. but marry, I ahve never been married but I would think there would be way too much conflict, more or less depending on their beliefs. And if we had kids, what would they be raised as? That could lead to a lot of spiritual frustration in their lives. And my religion is very important to me, and I would not put God aside for some girl. She would probably be upset, but God will be happy. God or the Girl?

Answer 8

I am married to a wonderful man and we have similar veiws and different views. I am a Wiccan and he is a Christian, but we both believe that you can't find what is in your heart in a church. We both feel our souls are drawn to the outdoors. We have learned to listen to each other and except what we don't agree on as the other's personal choice and very rarely argue on it.

Answer 9

I did. I married an Atheist and I'm Pagan. It hasn't effected me or my partner. We both respect one another's beliefs and find something of value in one another's beliefs.

Answer 10

my last two girlfriends were christians. one catholic the other pentacostal. i was a bit of a waning catholic at the time of dating the catholic girl, so we got along for the most part. however, the pentacostal girl i dated was pretty much the polar opposite from me philosophically and thus we got into arguements constantly... never underestimated the power of good sex to settle matters... would i date a religious girl again? sure why not...