An Agnostic’s Guide to Marriage

[cbayer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/fashion/an-agnostics-guide-to-marriage.html?pagewanted=all




By COLLEEN OAKLEY
Published: August 30, 2012

WHEN my husband, Fred, and I planned our wedding, he had two strong opinions: 1) brisket should be served, along with the fried chicken; and 2) we would recite the Lord’s Prayer in the ceremony.

This came as something of a shock to me (the prayer, not the brisket), as the two of us had attended church together only with my family on holidays, and my quick editor’s hand had been busily crosshatching out all references to “God” and “Jesus” from the wedding vows sent to us by the liberal preacher we had chosen.

“Is the Lord’s Prayer really necessary?” I asked Fred.

“Yeah,” he said, in his quiet way. “It’s important to me.”

more at link

[dmallind]

1. Well he was a nominal believer at the time so that makes sense

I'm partial to the sung full 6 part mass myself. and awe-struck by St. Peter's too, and I'm not even a nominal believer. I'm even fine with sending kids to churches and Sunday schools too (although I'd rotate in a mosque and a temple etc too) as long as they know full well it's a sales pitch and that disbelief is normal too.

I'm guessing an awful lot of nominal believers are like Fred and just going through the motions.

[cbayer]

2. The writer's response when her husband declares himself to no longer

be a believer is really interesting and I wonder how pervasive it is.

I think there is a case to be made for what you describe as an eclectic exposure to major religions and to atheism for children. As many here argue, people should make the decision for themselves, but how can they be expected to do that if they only hear one thing?