I suppose this question is mostly directed towards members who may have a religious partner. If it's really important to them that certain aspects of the wedding be religious in nature, would you be willing to compromise?
Been there, done that! I put it under the same category as funerals. Given my track record on marriage, the two are pretty much the same to me at this point ?. The key is, if I am getting married to a believer, and I have any expectation of it working out, not only her needs, but those of her family, need to be respected. That said, I would assume that we had already discussed the fact that I would not be showing up at church on Sundays. She would also know that all the scripture reading would have no real meaning to me. Though it is not an issue at this point (I’m 66), the subject of child baptism would have to be ironed out. Again, I am fine with that, since having water sprinkled on you is not going to matter one way or the other to me if you die. And the religious habits of the kids would be a much bigger issue than where we said our vows. So, given all the obstacles in an Atheist/believer marriage, where the ceremony takes place should be a minor one.
Nope! None of my three weddings were religious LOL.
I am a non believer...but religious ceremony and propaganda does not bother me in the least bit. In fact for a wedding I don't find it completely inappropriate it's just tradition in my eyes. Just tradition, in the same way that a wedding has an aisle to walk down, or bridesmaids, or the bride wearing white, it's just traditional pieces of a ceremony
No, I wouldn’t because it would be hypocritical of me to do so. I should hope that I wouldn’t merry an woman who was religious in the first place.
Well first of all, there ain't gonna be any wedding at all in my future. That ship already sailed and sunk once, that's enough of that. But for the sake of conversation, if I were to once again try out matrimony, the ceremony would be minimal and would not contain any religion in it at all. If my potential spouse was religious and insisted, I would drop her like a bowling ball in a well, but chances are I wouldn't make it that far with someone who was that religious.
If it was important to my partner and wasnt causing any harm, I wouldn't see any problem with it.
I suppose yes, if that situation presented itself
Yes, If my partner or her family wants to. Because my family is religious too and if the other side ( my partner or her family ) wants to have a religious ceremony then I might do it but only of limited time and less part taking. I would like to sit idle at any such religious function.
Nope. I've had two already. While the general structure of the weddings were fairly traditional (ceremony with reception that followed), the vows (also a traditional practice) were secular and written by us and both weddings were presided over by non-denominational ministers. I'm done with marriage now, I think.
Also, I'm to the point now where I would never marry (or enter into an intimate, long-term relationship with) a religious person.
If I had chosen to be with a religious person, I am entering in to the relationship knowing that it is important to them. It would then be selfish of me to tell them they have to ignore what is important to them. I feel it would be acceptible and possible to do a cearamony incorporating there religious beliefs while not forcing me to conform as well. It would take work and communication, but if you care for a person enough to enter into a marriage, you both should be willing to make compromises so you both are equally happy or satisfied.
I may bend a little bit and allow something, if we both are really attached to the particular venue, and the people that own it made it mandatory. Maybe. I can not promise an absence of exaggerated eye rolling in that case.
I can't really foresee having a meaningful relationship that reaches the point of marriage with someone that is so addicted to the blight of religion, considering my utter lack of respect for it.
When I got married to my ex-wife, we were both archaeologists/geologists. She was born to a conservative catholic family, but converted and taught Judism after she married her first husbsnd. She had also became quite involved with her Hindu friends. Kind of a wierd admixture.
When we met, we had both been working in the Native American community for several years. I had been an atheist for well over 30 years.
To make a short story long. She asked me to design the ceremony and the vows. Being an archy type, I thought okay. We contacted a friend of ours who was a minister, but had spent several years studying with a shaman in an Amazonia tribe (don't know which one off hand, she was a well known bones thrower-got me)
She performed a combo- shamanistic/ Christian ceremony (mostly for the benefit of my family). But inclusive in the ceremony we had a Christian prayer from my brother-law, a Hindu blessing from a friend of ours, a muslim blessing from a frind of mine, and a Jewish prayer from her son. A Native friend presented us individually with blessed tabacco in a leather pouch. We performed an Amazonian custom of making a circle around us with soil from our favorite spot (Tent rocks - Cochise Pueblo), then sweeping the circle away with a yucca broom to lock the good spirits in with, us not allowing them an opening to escspe. We also had my wife's favorite Quan Yen statue as an alter piece (let's see did I miss anything?).
Anyway, I enjoyed the multi-cultural aspect, as did our closest friends. My family still hasn't gotten over it and it's been a decade and 3/4. They never excommunicated me, but they are still shaking their heads in disbelief. What a romp -lol
I find it senseless that people will attend a wedding, but get worked up about the religious context of it.
So yeah, I would, because in this hypothetical scenario I am the groom, so I am not there to do a religious function anyway, it's a freaking marriage.
Now, does that mean I will give any attention to my wife's religion? Hell no, religion is a speck in existence, and it certainly is not part of my existence.
Yes, I read jewish scripture under the tag of being an Agnostic. But that is just jewish law, and I am in fact ~1/5th aschkenazi. Learning jewish scripture is just part of understanding existence, so a person knows how to insert himself in the world, so it's not like I am not being consistent.
Everyone with some semblance of a brain knows that religion is not a necessary life decision, and that God is a word with a hypothetical real meaning, it's not meant to be assumed as a necessarily true thing.
Can always get married at the local courthouse by a judge.