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	<title>Comments on: Why Do Atheists Get Married? Asks Christian Woman</title>
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	<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/</link>
	<description>by Hemant Mehta</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 28 May 2012 09:01:00 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>By: TWhite</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-852154</link>
		<dc:creator>TWhite</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:27:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-852154</guid>
		<description> saw something on a friends wall about how ATHEISTS are ruining marriage and what it stands for.... HERE IS MY ANSWER(I am ATHEIST)&quot;I resent that being an atheist. You do not have to believe in god to have a loving relationship based on trust , love and honor. Actually, being the only atheist in my family, I am the only one to yet have a divorice. kinda says something about religion. It&#039;s the peop...le that make marriage, not who you pray to. PS, I was also married in the same church as my mother and father on their anniversary, by our town preacher(who knows I am an atheist), he was all for it, saying it was a union of love, not religion. ♥ Just something to think about.&quot;Not trying to offend anyone, but I FIRMLY believe if you love someone(reguardless of gender, race, or religion) MARRIAGE is a union between 2 people. ANY 2 people. I want to point out also that a survey done by Barna Research Group (1999) shows 21% of Athiest have been divoriced compaired to 30% of Christians.....The world will never become a better place until people focus on the person, cause, or problem, INSTEAD of always focusing on RELIGION!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p> saw something on a friends wall about how ATHEISTS are ruining marriage and what it stands for&#8230;. HERE IS MY ANSWER(I am ATHEIST)&#8221;I resent that being an atheist. You do not have to believe in god to have a loving relationship based on trust , love and honor. Actually, being the only atheist in my family, I am the only one to yet have a divorice. kinda says something about religion. It&#8217;s the peop&#8230;le that make marriage, not who you pray to. PS, I was also married in the same church as my mother and father on their anniversary, by our town preacher(who knows I am an atheist), he was all for it, saying it was a union of love, not religion. ♥ Just something to think about.&#8221;Not trying to offend anyone, but I FIRMLY believe if you love someone(reguardless of gender, race, or religion) MARRIAGE is a union between 2 people. ANY 2 people. I want to point out also that a survey done by Barna Research Group (1999) shows 21% of Athiest have been divoriced compaired to 30% of Christians&#8230;..The world will never become a better place until people focus on the person, cause, or problem, INSTEAD of always focusing on RELIGION!</p>
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		<title>By: Nicolle</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-783019</link>
		<dc:creator>Nicolle</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:47:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-783019</guid>
		<description>Marriage is a custom first, and only later a religious ceremony.

Mind your own business. </description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Marriage is a custom first, and only later a religious ceremony.</p>
<p>Mind your own business. </p>
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		<title>By: Bobby</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-685592</link>
		<dc:creator>Bobby</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:05:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-685592</guid>
		<description>Hindu is the oldest of the world&#039;s major religions. It evolved from the Vedic religion of ancient India and they performed marriage; however you will never be able to convince a Christian that the world is older that 6000+ years old and you will never convince them that the dinosaur came before Adam and Eve.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hindu is the oldest of the world&#8217;s major religions. It evolved from the Vedic religion of ancient India and they performed marriage; however you will never be able to convince a Christian that the world is older that 6000+ years old and you will never convince them that the dinosaur came before Adam and Eve.</p>
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		<title>By: sweet lemons</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-398040</link>
		<dc:creator>sweet lemons</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:49:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-398040</guid>
		<description>This reminds me of an article encouraging Christians to marry young largely so they can avoid the immorality of premarital sex. Perhaps this explains their high divorce rate?

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/august/16.22.html.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This reminds me of an article encouraging Christians to marry young largely so they can avoid the immorality of premarital sex. Perhaps this explains their high divorce rate?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/august/16.22.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/august/16.22.html</a>.</p>
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		<title>By: Anjie C</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-392924</link>
		<dc:creator>Anjie C</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:04:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-392924</guid>
		<description>I am currently engaged to my long term boyfriend of some 15 years or so.  We are often asked the same question.  

 For us Atheists marriage is about the love for each other not the need to please a higher power.  

Some people think because we do not believe in god we are not capable of knowing love and that is absurd. 

The only thing to say to such ignorance is we love each other just like Christians love each other we just choose to have a wedding without the bible.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I am currently engaged to my long term boyfriend of some 15 years or so.  We are often asked the same question.  </p>
<p> For us Atheists marriage is about the love for each other not the need to please a higher power.  </p>
<p>Some people think because we do not believe in god we are not capable of knowing love and that is absurd. </p>
<p>The only thing to say to such ignorance is we love each other just like Christians love each other we just choose to have a wedding without the bible.</p>
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		<title>By: Samantha</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-392482</link>
		<dc:creator>Samantha</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:02:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-392482</guid>
		<description>I actually had a very similar conversation to this with a co-worker of mine this week. She was expressing her disapproval about my fiance and I living together before marriage, and the child involved, which is his. She was questioning my morals, and I actually told her, that I felt co-habitating was a good idea, and could probably prevent a lot of divorces. After the fact, I was researching some statistics and apparently conservative christians have the highest divorce rate among any &quot;religious&quot; group. I say religious loosely as agnostic, and atheist aren&#039;t technically &quot;religions&quot;. I can see all too clearly now, why this divorce rate is so high, they are putting their marriage into someone else&#039;s hands and not owning any of their own problems expecting them to be magically fixed.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I actually had a very similar conversation to this with a co-worker of mine this week. She was expressing her disapproval about my fiance and I living together before marriage, and the child involved, which is his. She was questioning my morals, and I actually told her, that I felt co-habitating was a good idea, and could probably prevent a lot of divorces. After the fact, I was researching some statistics and apparently conservative christians have the highest divorce rate among any &#8220;religious&#8221; group. I say religious loosely as agnostic, and atheist aren&#8217;t technically &#8220;religions&#8221;. I can see all too clearly now, why this divorce rate is so high, they are putting their marriage into someone else&#8217;s hands and not owning any of their own problems expecting them to be magically fixed.</p>
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		<title>By: Why shouldn&#8217;t atheists marry? &#171; Hello Universe, This Is Nessie</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-385656</link>
		<dc:creator>Why shouldn&#8217;t atheists marry? &#171; Hello Universe, This Is Nessie</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:05:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-385656</guid>
		<description>[...] marry? Hemant Metha at Friendly Atheist addressed this question from a Christian woman, in a post on the site a couple of weeks ago. Well, the answers should be clear to anyone thinking straight, [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] marry? Hemant Metha at Friendly Atheist addressed this question from a Christian woman, in a post on the site a couple of weeks ago. Well, the answers should be clear to anyone thinking straight, [...]</p>
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		<title>By: Jennifer</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-380885</link>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:57:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-380885</guid>
		<description>Responding to a comment like Jane&#039;s is pretty much pointless. She believes in an invisible man in the sky. How can you reason with someone like that?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Responding to a comment like Jane&#8217;s is pretty much pointless. She believes in an invisible man in the sky. How can you reason with someone like that?</p>
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		<title>By: Laura</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-378361</link>
		<dc:creator>Laura</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:16:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-378361</guid>
		<description>oh, goodness, Catherine, I just clicked on the link. CM explains it! I stay away from those message boards! haha! My goodness, you can&#039;t read a page without someone attacking someone else on that site! :D</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>oh, goodness, Catherine, I just clicked on the link. CM explains it! I stay away from those message boards! haha! My goodness, you can&#8217;t read a page without someone attacking someone else on that site! <img src='http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>By: Chuck</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-377953</link>
		<dc:creator>Chuck</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:36:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/10/16/why-do-atheists-get-married-asks-christians-woman/#comment-377953</guid>
		<description>My wife (nominally Christian) and I (nominally atheist) have always told anyone who asks that marriage, the ceremony, is for everyone else, and that if you are not already committed to each other before you walk up the aisle a piece of paper and a prayer are not going to keep you together. 

So why did we get married? To show to our friends, family, and community that we had made a committment to each other and that we intended to keep it.

Funny story: We were married in my wife&#039;s family&#039;s church where the vows ended with the bride and groom saying &quot;I will, with the help of God.&quot; The pastor literally would not perform the ceremony if I didn&#039;t add the second clause. Since I was far more interested in marrying my wife than making a scene, I went ahead and said &quot;with the help of God.&quot; Ever since, my wife and I have said that if we didn&#039;t stay married it would be because God didn&#039;t do his part.

Funnier story: The pastor that officiated at our wedding was fired by the church a year later. Turned out that he was having an affair with one of the member of the church -- looks like God wasn&#039;t interested in him staying married. 22 years later we&#039;re still together even if God wasn&#039;t interested.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>My wife (nominally Christian) and I (nominally atheist) have always told anyone who asks that marriage, the ceremony, is for everyone else, and that if you are not already committed to each other before you walk up the aisle a piece of paper and a prayer are not going to keep you together. </p>
<p>So why did we get married? To show to our friends, family, and community that we had made a committment to each other and that we intended to keep it.</p>
<p>Funny story: We were married in my wife&#8217;s family&#8217;s church where the vows ended with the bride and groom saying &#8220;I will, with the help of God.&#8221; The pastor literally would not perform the ceremony if I didn&#8217;t add the second clause. Since I was far more interested in marrying my wife than making a scene, I went ahead and said &#8220;with the help of God.&#8221; Ever since, my wife and I have said that if we didn&#8217;t stay married it would be because God didn&#8217;t do his part.</p>
<p>Funnier story: The pastor that officiated at our wedding was fired by the church a year later. Turned out that he was having an affair with one of the member of the church &#8212; looks like God wasn&#8217;t interested in him staying married. 22 years later we&#8217;re still together even if God wasn&#8217;t interested.</p>
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