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Different Religions: Does it really matter?
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- Parent Category: Relationships
- Category: Dating
- Created on Sunday, 29 April 2012 12:16
- Last Updated on Sunday, 29 April 2012 12:23
- Published on Sunday, 29 April 2012 12:16
- Written by Maria Rose
- Hits: 517
My most recent relationship was a whirlwind romance that ended in the arms of friendship and acceptance. He is a Muslim, and I am a Christian. If the cross tattoo on my stomach and his asking me to go to Mosque wasn’t enough to ring the ‘Let’s talk religion’ bell, then the surrounding differences sure brought it to the surface. He once exclaimed, “I don’t mind that you’re a Christian.” While those were Robin Thicke’s music to my ears at the time, I couldn’t help but ponder after the wine dissipated, “But what if we have children? How will that factor into this ‘Respecting each other’s religion’ thing?”
Through self-observation I was able to realize that Religion is like having a partner that likes to sleep with their dog; you better want that, too, or never bring it up as a negative. Who we ‘run to’ in times of crisis is a part of the very fabric that holds whatever sanity we have together. Each individual faith is less practiced in noteworthy acts and monologues to your partner, but rather in subtle ways that only find center stage when in a relationship with someone that believes something else.
The important idea to remember is that you are both on the same side of the ‘I love you’ team. When you hear the response, “Oh, yeah I don’t believe in that. I believe in (blank).” One can feel like there begins a facetious, spiritual warfare, and soon someone will have to eventually surrender to or silence the other. While this thought process is natural and inevitable, it is only a fear and must be treated accordingly. Fears are only a reminder of our irrational thoughts that must be tweaked in order to gain peace.
When the book is nearing the end of the dating chapter and you begin to get serious with your partner, you factor in the things that matter in the attempt to start a fresh page of being “equally yoked”. Though many things play an integral role in compatibility, I do not believe that religion is one of them; any more than you would discontinue dating someone for a difference in political parties. It is a part of who you are, but it exists in the province of the mind that is for you, maintained by you and based on “your” inner peace. It is of course always a plus when you can practice your religion together, but in regard to the one you adore, your only challenge is to receive their love and reciprocate. So in the matter of different religions: it doesn’t really matter.
Maria Rose is a blogger and novelist. She grew up in a family of eight children with a muralist for a mother who helped her and her siblings find and develop their own creative voices. Maria wrote her first book, The Day Mr. Robinson Went Wacko, at the age of nine, a work she would be asked to read aloud to each of the other 4th classes in her school. Since the age of 16, Maria has written five (5) novels. Underlying Maria’s passion for writing is the thought that someone, somewhere, someday may find joy in reading one of her books, which they checked out from the library.
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