Would you convert?

#48
I'm not really religious (very lapsed Catholic), but I'm torn on this issue. I mean, God is God. Why does it matter so much if you worship him in a mosque or temple or church? Wouldn't your own personal relationship with him remain constant whether you take communion or celebrate passover? Would he stop loving you if you referred to him as Allah instead of God?

It's these silly things in religion that I can't wrap my mind around. W

I know plenty of people that have converted for a loved one, and ended up being more involved in that religion than they were in the previous one.



ETA: Aren't religious-based threads not allowed in the forum. The atheist one last week got locked down last week.
 
#50
Because I am atheistic, I am doubting that someone truly religious would be willing to marry me anyway - especially because there is no way I would hold my tongue for a lifetime and allow my children to be reared being taught something I strongly disagreed with. When a person's faith or non-faith is strong enough, it really is a deal-breaker.

I am married to a man who considers himself a Christian but is non-practicing. I have no problem exposing my children to different faiths, but I also explain to them why I don't believe and that the world can be a wonderous place with or without faith. If my partner could not accept that I don't believe, I couldn't change just to be with him.

Ultimately, it would rather be like someone asking you to declare that the sky is green. It is not, and I could never claim that it was with any conviction. I could SAY it, but it would be meaningless because I didn't believe it.
 
#52
I wouldn't convert simply to be with someone.

With regards to the argument that religion shouldn't matter if people truly love each other... what happens after death?

Religions offer many explanations to this, and if a couple has differing ideas about what happens to each of them and their love... then... what kind of love is this? Is it a transient, earthly desire...or a true union, longlasting... even beyond death?

That's why for people with religious/spiritual inclinations it is important to discuss religion... and that's why sometimes it doesn't work out.
 
#53
Corrinne said:
Im not religious either. I think that things (like humans, the world, the universe, etc) are designed to work within each other. I dont know what or who this designer is, maybe its a God, maybe its not... I have a lot of questions that I would need aswered before converting to a religion.

My boyfriend was raised strict Catholic, and we dont seem to have to many issues in that sense. If we were to ge married, I know he would want to get married in the church and have a traditional Catholic ceremony, I couldnt because I havnt been christened (baptized? not sure). When we've discussed this, we decided on a few options. I could 'convert' so we could get married in the church, but I dont think thats ethically right at all, I personally couldnt do that unless i REALLY believed in the religion. Our second option is that we could NOT get married in the church hand have a JP marry us, but his family is so religious that I would actually feel BAD not living up to them. Its stil early for us to discuss marriage, but if any of you have been in a simular situation I'd love to know how you handled it.
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My DH is agnostic/atheist, and I'm an "agnostic Jew". :lol: Anyway, neither of our families is especially religious, so they never had any issues from the beginning. We were married by a friend...we got married outside and one of our best friends married us. We had her made "official" for the day through the courthouse. That way our wedding was very personal and very intimate (we only had 15 people including us) and non-secular...it was more of a uniting of two people, and religion was only used in a cultural way (DH stepped on a glass, we had a non-secular ketubah, etc.). Do you think that would be an option? Like if you had a friend or officiant marry you and it was just a union of two people, religion aside?

The only thing that is challenging for me is bringing "Christmas" into our home. I put "Christmas" in quotes because it's a watered-down version that's completely religion-free. We have Hanukkah, Passover, Purim, etc. but ONLY for cultural reasons. And we have Chrismukkah (:lol:) now because my DH grew up with Christmas and he shouldn't have to give that up. Our children will be raised as agnostic Jews with Christmas. :roflmfao: Yes, I realize how weird that sounds.

Anyway, I have seen a wedding that was done with a priest and a rabbi, and I have to admit, it was weird. It was like they were canceling each other out! The wedding was beautiful (it was at the Hotel Bel Air), but it was awkward because of the Catholic/Jewish ceremony. But the families were appeased, and I guess that was important for the couple getting married.

Anyway, I think it can be done, there just has to be a strong mutual respect for each person's cultural and religious beliefs. I for one have a problem when parents impose their religious beliefs or "rules" on their children and their children's relationships. I mean, if your child can find love and a partner to share their lives with, who friggin' cares what religion that person is? JMO.

HTH. I think it can be worked out, but it's definitely sticky.
 
#54
I am not religious so probably wouldn't be dating someone who was that far away from me in their core beliefs. I did date a born-again Christian once. Great guy but I could never reach the level of faith he had. And honestly I would have been lying to myself if I had converted.
 
#56
jillybean307 said:
I'm not really religious (very lapsed Catholic), but I'm torn on this issue. I mean, God is God. Why does it matter so much if you worship him in a mosque or temple or church? Wouldn't your own personal relationship with him remain constant whether you take communion or celebrate passover? Would he stop loving you if you referred to him as Allah instead of God?

It's these silly things in religion that I can't wrap my mind around. W

I know plenty of people that have converted for a loved one, and ended up being more involved in that religion than they were in the previous one.



ETA: Aren't religious-based threads not allowed in the forum. The atheist one last week got locked down last week.
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:shame: I didn't know this, if the mods want they can move/lock it.
 
#59
statfan said:
He's not allowed to marry her if she doesn't. :sad:
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Not ALLOWED to marry her? UGH. Gross. He sounds like a families' boy to me and the type of guy that would side with them rather than his wife. Sorry but I need a real man who makes his own decisions and doesn't do things because people tell him to or not to in this case. He must be young?!? I mean I know family is important as I am in a very tight family and so is my DH but WE choose what we want to do. DH's parents wanted us to have our kids christened and I am sorry but NO. I don't believe in that. So guess what? MY KIDS, MY RULES. Just like MY LIFE, MY RULES. If he loved her enough he would marry her anyway. Just my opinion.
 
#60
^^ I don't think that this was down to the family but rather down to the religion itself, right? this is why i said you need to be aware what you enter into when you enter a relationship.
 
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