I am a recent widower and signed up on a dating site. Finally found a woman I really liked. We talked by phone for hours and hours but never touched on religion. My dating profile stated I was an Agnostic and hers said Christian. After a long planned meet up we finally met.. Disaster!! When I stated that I had quit believing in God about the same time as I found out there was no Santa Claus she said that her family prayed before meals and she went to church on Sunday. No problem for me since she was Christian but, well, the opposite wasn't true. After a 375 mile drive each way I learned a valuable lesson. Ask a person if they know what an agnostic is. Most don't. Maybe I should get some cards printed up with the definition of Agnostic on them!
Sorry for your loss and missunderstanding experience! I like to travel bit not to get disappointed like that. I guess lesson learned...
You are right. Most people don't know much about their own religious beliefs and traditions let alone anyone elses. There have been several studies showing that non believers have a significantly higher knowledge and understanding of religions than believers do. In my experience when it comes to religion don't assume anything.
religion or lack thereof should be an early topic of discussion if you expect to get cozy with someone
I agree. I don't have time to waste. I address the matter up front, early on.
I state in all my profiles the following:
I am not religious in any form or fashion!!!
If you are conservative we might be able to have centrist discussions about politics and your god(s)!
Most do not read your profile!
I now ask them if they have read my dating profile to avoid confusion!
Even if you do find one that might work they might turn out be allergic to your pets, after the fact even when mentioned in your profile!!!
Maybe she wanted to continue the relationship after death. Heaven does not accept hell’s travel passport. LOL.
That's too bad but personally since she did say she was a Christian I think it is fair to ask some clarifying questions before you commit to a 375 mile drive. The first person I dated as an adult was a Christian and was clear about being an active churchgoer. Other than that we had a tremendous amount in common and corresponded and spoke at length. I flew half way around the world to meet her, met her friends (whom I assume were Christians too), even went to her church for a service and went through the motions. But she dumped me because she couldn't handle not being able to share her Christian life with me. I think it was just as well and she saved me a lot of heartache further down the road.
After that I never dated a practicing religious person again, but I did end up dating a few lapsed Catholics along the way though
Dodged a bullet there. Still, props for putting yourself out there.
The older believers seem to escalate their faith habits REGARDLESS of liberal or fundamentalist kinds.... it is sad to see and hear from our Atheist perspective when the true good news there is no hell to fear nor heaven bribes in reality to accept
At least you were upfront... It saves time and energy
Is it possible both xian female and Atheist widower are both TrumpOLINIbots ? Maybe she loved Ayn Rand and so does he ? ?
Greed unites strange bedmates
OMG - I'd definitely draw the line at dating someone from the church of Ayn Rand - no matter how many gleaming steam trains racing into tunnels she promised me in Galt's gulch.
My wife and I began our marriage as “liberal” Xtians, with a belief largely based on the writing of Ethicist Joseph Fletcher who was a Xtian Ethicist but eventually became an Atheist. I fairly recently came out of the closet as an Atheist to my wife even though I thought that many of my comments over the past 5 years expressed my feelings that god is a myth and that I was confirming something that she already knew. She was in fact horrified that I would express such a thought. Since that first conversation about my most recent religious thoughts her way of dealing with my attempts to talk about it have been avoidance, criticism of my reading material and resulting thoughts, questions about my mental health, and instructions to keep these thoughts to myself in the future. I have thought that over the 37 years that we have been together that we could talk about anything, even if we were in disagreement but this was apparently a bridge too far.
I certainly emphasize with what you experienced on your date.