Throughout the ages, one of the main barriers to ending up with your true love has been a conflict of religious faith. But is this still the case in our more liberal modern world? Can your beliefs be an obstacle to finding ‘the one’? If you’ve met someone who is strongly religious and of a different faith to yourself, here are a few things you might want to consider before starting a relationship…
Compulsory choices…
It is part of the doctrine of many religions that you can only marry or even date someone of the same faith. This will be the most difficult barrier to break, as they will need to do little short of abandon their entire belief system to be able to have a relationship with you. Therefore, be careful when you start seeing a passionate single Muslim or any singleton that is passionate about their faith. It might all end in tears when you find out there’s no possible way you can marry them. Be up front and ask them at the beginning what the consequences and possible limitations of their religion might be.
Certain customs…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skippy/333183420/
There are also certain customs that might get in the way of a smooth-running relationship if you don’t share a faith. Celebrating different religious festivals can be tricky but this can be overcome. In American series The OC, Seth solves the issue of his parents’ different religions (one Jewish, one Christian) by creating new holiday – ‘Christmukkah’ – to cover both Christmas and Hanukkah. Other more difficult customs to negotiate include the rule of no sex before marriage or not believing in the use of contraception. These kinds of restrictions can obviously affect a relationship.
Fitting with the family…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zuikosan/6056443696/
If the family don’t approve, then you’re going to have a difficult relationship,. iIt’s as simple as that. And religion can have a lot to do with this. Make sure the family fully approve before getting into anything long-term.
A view on life…
You don’t have to agree about everything in a relationship, like – films, books or, taste in food. But there are certain beliefs that will cause difficulties if you have different opinions about them. General sense of morality and view on life after death are particularly difficult ones to disagree about. Also, if your partner is used to a patriarchal religion, they might expect a different power balance from your relationship than one you would be happy with.
At the end of the day, if you can accept all of these differences and the problems that may arise from them, you’ll be able to struggle throughmake your relationship a success if you love each other enough. It is very possible to have a relationship across religions, it just depends on the severity of the belief systems involved. For a great way to find those of the same faith who are also compatible with you in other ways, why not try dating sites?
Compulsory choices…
It is part of the doctrine of many religions that you can only marry or even date someone of the same faith. This will be the most difficult barrier to break, as they will need to do little short of abandon their entire belief system to be able to have a relationship with you. Therefore, be careful when you start seeing a passionate single Muslim or any singleton that is passionate about their faith. It might all end in tears when you find out there’s no possible way you can marry them. Be up front and ask them at the beginning what the consequences and possible limitations of their religion might be.
Certain customs…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skippy/333183420/
There are also certain customs that might get in the way of a smooth-running relationship if you don’t share a faith. Celebrating different religious festivals can be tricky but this can be overcome. In American series The OC, Seth solves the issue of his parents’ different religions (one Jewish, one Christian) by creating new holiday – ‘Christmukkah’ – to cover both Christmas and Hanukkah. Other more difficult customs to negotiate include the rule of no sex before marriage or not believing in the use of contraception. These kinds of restrictions can obviously affect a relationship.
Fitting with the family…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zuikosan/6056443696/
If the family don’t approve, then you’re going to have a difficult relationship,. iIt’s as simple as that. And religion can have a lot to do with this. Make sure the family fully approve before getting into anything long-term.
A view on life…
You don’t have to agree about everything in a relationship, like – films, books or, taste in food. But there are certain beliefs that will cause difficulties if you have different opinions about them. General sense of morality and view on life after death are particularly difficult ones to disagree about. Also, if your partner is used to a patriarchal religion, they might expect a different power balance from your relationship than one you would be happy with.
At the end of the day, if you can accept all of these differences and the problems that may arise from them, you’ll be able to struggle throughmake your relationship a success if you love each other enough. It is very possible to have a relationship across religions, it just depends on the severity of the belief systems involved. For a great way to find those of the same faith who are also compatible with you in other ways, why not try dating sites?
2 COMMENTS:
my husband is orthodox christian. it's just a matter of respecting each other's religion. in our home, we celebrate both catholic and orthodox christian holy feasts/days (which are not so different to begin with considering they were once under the same religion). so i'm no believer of shamcey's infamous answer that to prove that you love someone, you should be willing to change your religion. if you truly love someone, you'll accept the other wholeheartedly and that includes his/her religion.
This is such a nice article. I'm currently in a relationship and although we don't have problems with religion, we share a lot of differences. Good thing though, he understands and we've come to learn how to compromise.
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