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Could you date a highly religious person?

I couldn't. I've never had a relationship with a woman who was very religious. I think it would be a constant source of disagreement. OTOH, Darwin was married to a religious woman for most of his life, so it does happen. What has been your experience?

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Permalink Reply by Tyler Evans on December 3, 2009 at 7:33pm

Simply put: No, no I could not.

Permalink Reply by Scott Macauley on December 10, 2009 at 7:48pm

I tried several times, with the same girl. She was home schooled, and raised in such a sheltered way you'd think she lived in a cave. All of which I didn't know right away. She recently abused my friendship by using the fact that I liked her to try and convert me to Christianity. Then said she didn't want to be friends anymore when it didn't work. Shortly thereafter I found out she wasn't quite the intellectual she made herself out to be previously. The physical attraction is still there for me for some reason, but aside from that I've all but written her off. I think if it were to happen again with someone else, I'd turn the other way before it got to that point.

Permalink Reply by Tonya Powell on December 15, 2009 at 5:17pm

I'm at the point where I don't even want to date a "marginally" religious person. I just can't shake the thought that having faith is illogical. Sorry if that sounds callous. Maybe that's why I'm still single! :)

Permalink Reply by Christopher Wilton on December 17, 2009 at 10:50am

I know some people who've had to go through the quagmire of apostasy. First him then her, it almost tore them apart, but they pulled through.

With some luck it might last, but they still have to put up with the fact that most of their social circle still believes in a load of bronze age bullshit; and their former Pastor is a manipulative retard who has tried to drive a wedge between them on numerous occasions.

Saving yourself from that shit-storm may seem callous but it IS justified. :)

Permalink Reply by Mike Brownstein on December 17, 2009 at 12:56am

I dated someone who was religious and she couldnt accept the fact that I could be good without god...i tried reading her religion's texts just so i could humor her, and she didn't like that I wasn't interested after reading a small portion of it

Permalink Reply by Christopher Wilton on December 17, 2009 at 10:36am

I would point out that Darwin only became irreligiously agnostic later in life, I suppose early in the relationship it was not a source of bother; but it became a source of disquiet between them later on in life, as Darwin buried evermore of his beloved children.

I can not personally imagine a relationship with a deeply religious person working for me, but then I can not envisage any relationship working for me. :'(

Permalink Reply by Edward Teach on December 17, 2009 at 10:58am

This may be a cop out, but it would depend on the religion. Although there are fundie sects in all faiths, I think I could deal with Buddhist and Taoists without much trouble. I would have great difficulty managing a relationship with a zealous Christian or Muslim.

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on December 18, 2009 at 7:15pm

Yeah, somewhere in the back of this thread I think I mentioned that a Buddhist, Pagan, even a Hindu ... any of the everyone-is-welcome, low-on-the-woo-woo versions of these types of religion, I think I'd get along with. In fact in friendship I do get along with folks like this.

Permalink Reply by Edward Teach on February 12, 2010 at 11:34am

Yea, me too. I really came to atheism through Buddhism.

Permalink Reply by Double Standards??? on December 23, 2009 at 11:46am

I could NEVER date a highly religious woman. There would be conflict. I don't share their values. I don't want children, however if I fell in love and decided I wanted to have children, I would want them to come to their own conclusions free from manipulation by adults or the indoctrinated children religious people. Oh yeah, and they would be offended by my jokes.

Permalink Reply by Charles on December 23, 2009 at 9:37pm

My last ex-girlfriend was cool.She never treated me poorly for my non-belief but the woman before her was terrible.She was Catholic and deeply religious.Pictures of Jesus all over the house.I can't deal with a religious person like that.That's why we broke up.

Permalink Reply by SJ on January 17, 2010 at 8:31am

I dated a girl whom I later found out was a fundy. She wasn't open to the possibilities that the bible was wrong, even though I showed her what was inconsistent. I then showed her the Hubble Deep Field image (always sends shivers up my spine). She responded that god could do anything....no sense of wonder or awe, just that. The final straw was when she changed the cover of Free Inquiry, she changed Carl Sagan to Carl Satan. I asked her why and she said that he was evil, I asked her why he was evil.....she didn't know why, he just was. At that point, I decided to avoid religious women in the future. Also, she didn't enjoy receiving oral sex. :(