Comments on: Why Do Atheists Get Married? Asks Christian Woman

By: Nicolle

Nicolle — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:47:00 +0000

Marriage is a custom first, and only later a religious ceremony.

Mind your own business.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:05:33 +0000

Hindu is the oldest of the world’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.

By: sweet lemons

sweet lemons — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:49:53 +0000

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.

By: Anjie C

Anjie C — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:04:52 +0000

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.

By: Samantha

Samantha — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:02:27 +0000

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 “religious” group. I say religious loosely as agnostic, and atheist aren’t technically “religions”. I can see all too clearly now, why this divorce rate is so high, they are putting their marriage into someone else’s hands and not owning any of their own problems expecting them to be magically fixed.

By: Why shouldn’t atheists marry? « Hello Universe, This Is Nessie

Why shouldn’t atheists marry? « Hello Universe, This Is Nessie — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:05:48 +0000

[...] 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, [...]

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:57:24 +0000

Responding to a comment like Jane’s is pretty much pointless. She believes in an invisible man in the sky. How can you reason with someone like that?

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:16:09 +0000

oh, goodness, Catherine, I just clicked on the link. CM explains it! I stay away from those message boards! haha! My goodness, you can’t read a page without someone attacking someone else on that site!

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:36:06 +0000

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’s family’s church where the vows ended with the bride and groom saying “I will, with the help of God.” The pastor literally would not perform the ceremony if I didn’t add the second clause. Since I was far more interested in marrying my wife than making a scene, I went ahead and said “with the help of God.” Ever since, my wife and I have said that if we didn’t stay married it would be because God didn’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’t interested in him staying married. 22 years later we’re still together even if God wasn’t interested.

By: Steven

Steven — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:08:22 +0000

Clearly, anyone who thinks marriage is about male dominance hasn’t met any of the women in my family. I recall my (now deceased, sadly) stepfather-in-law lecturing about the subtle ways his mother retained control while giving his father the illusion that he was “wearing the pants in the family”. I think he bemoaned the fact that “modern women” don’t bother with the illusion anymore. I like to think that my wife of ten years and I are partners and it’s only a coincidence that she usually gets what she wants. I’ve tried telling her that according to the Bible I’m in charge but she always responds: “So? You’re an atheist”.
I should have known that was going to bite me on the backside one day. I can’t even pull the “Well, you’re a Christian” card on her since she’s agnostic. We got married because we love each other and it clearly has nothing to do with God.