Ask Lemmy

Here's the fun thing about that question; it's basically 'Would you date someone you considered mentally insane?' Whether you are atheist considering dating Hindu, a Catholic considering dating a Zoroastrian, or a Buddhist dating a nihilist, this is a person who has a fundamentally different understanding of reality. Here's the real kicker; 'Is someone who has a distorted sense of reality capable of giving consent?' Can you even date them if you value consent?

I'm an aethiset, she was christian. I moved on fairly quickly, it's just looppy shit i would have started to laugh..

I assumed she'd come to her senses, she assumed I could be indoctrinated.

I wouldn't get involved with someone from any religion.

While I was in the process of disentangling myself from religion, the woman I lived with for nearly 10 years went off the deep end. Prosperity gospel. She became insufferable.

I made a much-needed escape, and met my wife a year later. She, like me, believes religion to be a social construct, intended to keep the masses docile and obedient.

Not anyone who is actively/strongly religious of any kind. Philosophical/spiritual beliefs is fine with me but anyone who is drinking the Kool-Aid is either delusional or dumb (and probably stubborn/hard to reason with). I was raised Catholic (even went to Catholic school from elementary up to finishing HS) but would consider myself somewhere between agnostic and atheist now

Yes, if their core beliefs are the same. Kindness, compassion, generosity, etc.

It depends on how passionate about their religion and how the aspects of that passion affects people around them.

I'm a former/non-practicing Christian, and I consider myself agnostic or atheist now.

I married someone with a religion from an entirely different family of religions than Christianity, originating in an entirely different part of the world. The way their religion really affects me day-to-day is that there are certain ingredients we don't keep in the home for cooking. Really not a big deal.

But I can see dating a zealot (from a different religion or not) could pose problems

Irreligious Agnostic here. As long as they don't have extremist views I don't care.

I was raised Christian and am now atheist. I would have a very difficult time being romantic with anyone who calls themself Christian. I have come to despise all levels of it. I don't believe in the existence of the super natural. I don't believe in the Christian creation myth. I don't believe in the resurrection or any miracles of Jesus. I believe most churches are cults that we give a free pass to be cults because it's more socially acceptable. I believe religion did great harm to me growing up and I believe it does great harm to many other young people. I could go on, but that's the gist. If someone was somehow Christian and agreed with me on all of those points there might be a chance but I'd still view it as strange that they didn't see the whole thing as a scam and renounce their faith.

People from other religions I may have similar problems with because even though religions are different their effects are often similar. Even a staunchly pro LGBT church/religion I would have difficulty meshing with because my problems go so much deeper than that.

An exception would be people who are "spiritual" but not "religious". While I myself am quite skeptical, I am still open to the idea that there's more. And even if there's not, sometimes it's fun and/or beneficial to pretend that there is. So long as they themselves are similarly open to the ideas that they could be wrong and that others could be right I think I could get along quite well with people like this. The truth is I still have moments I would call religious experiences, but I don't believe they're revelations of truth. They're still interesting and fun to talk about. Like dreams.

No, Im not a believer and that is unlikely to change

99% no

Religious people are generally dogmatic, but then there are people who think they're religious but don't actually believe most of the concepts they grew under, besides one or two traditions that essentially just become culture

No lol

I couldn't be equals with someone who isn't living in grounded reality.

Anti-religious atheist here.

You know what...years ago I would have said "no". Imo, often fundamentalist religious people have views that actively harm society through systemic actions. So it's not something I am able to generally sit well with.

However, years back I met someone irl (not online) with absolutely polar opposite political and religious views as me. I am an atheist who actually opposes the concept of religion in general and I am very liberal. This person I know is very Catholic and conservative. They are a hardcore Trumper and I have always seen him as a dangerous threat to the US.

Yet...

Over the years, this person has legitimately become my absolute best friend. They are the kindest, funniest, most wonderful person I know. I absolutely love spending time with them. We just don't debate our polar opposite viewpoints. We still share and talk about deep, personal things...but we don't instigate political debates or anything like that. I take their views as someone who has been brainwashed by society, and I'm sure they feel the same about me. But it means that I don't see them as evil for their views and am able to easily look past that.

I don't know what the fuck I would do in life if I ever lost them. Sometimes they are the reason why I look forward to the rest of my day.

We are not romantically involved or anything. They have a partner and a family, and I wouldn't be interested with doing that with this person anyway.

But the point is, it taught me that I can have a very deep, personal connection with someone with polar opposite views. Ideally, I would like for a partner to share my views. But life has shown me that it is possible to be opposite like that and still really deeply care for and enjoy someone.

Most likely not. Depends how serious they are about it and how big of an factor it plays in their daily lives. Belief in god, to me, is an indication that a person is not capable of thinking rationally. At least not to the extent that I'm expecting from a parther. I don't want to be with someone who can't be reasoned with.

Doubt.

as long as they aren't going to force me into said religion I would be fine with it, if I dated anyway.

I would try to support them and all but, I'm agnostic

No

Atheist. I'm quite relaxed about it as long as I don't have to take part in the silly rituals. I've dated a lot of picky eaters so I'm okay with not having bacon at home or whatever your dietary restrictions may be.

As long as they don't try to convert me, yes.

Don't be a dick.

That basically my only requirement.

It depends. Probably, as long as they didn't think I was going to hell, or believe something I found awful, or were evangelistic, needing me to believe what they did.

My mom's family was Methodist, my dad's family was Catholic, my mom stayed Methodist, Dad became just open-minded general Theist but not specifically Christian, I am not religious but not capital A Atheist.

If they were personally religious (spiritual) rather than socially/dogmatically religious, then it could work out. As an atheist, I'm not against spiritual beliefs, but their core values must align with mine - that is the important bit here. Obviously, communication about these things would determine where we align, and help determine if we could sustain a relationship, but it's certainly a possibility.

Note: I include a love of nature, humanism, etc. under the 'spiritual' label, as well as traditionally religiously spiritual.

As a former Christian, I would have a hard time dating anyone who is Evangelical, Protestant, or mainstream Catholic. Other than that, it's not so much the religious views that are the issue for me.

For what I am ... it depends on which end of the elephant you want to look at. For this crowd, let's say pantheist with pagan and Buddhist leanings.

Yeah absolutely. I'm not religious per se but vaguely spiritual and I get along fine with religious people as long as they don't force it on others. In fact I like hearing about other perspectives so it could even be something drawing me in.

there was a show about muslims dating non-muslims in michigan, the guy had to commit to islam to even date the woman. it might be problematic if you arnt one and the other requires religious conversion.

if its associated with right wing political views, no thank you.