LOL Seun. You have me in stitches.

Thanks. I forgot the <sarcasm> tags again.

Marrying someone not of your religious belief is like a cock marrying a duck

of course they can never be together , , , why because a cock can never live in water and will never quack

and a duck will ever wanna always stay on land ( except if the duck is nigerian ) and will never crow

They only getting married for marriage sake but might never end up working out

By the way , if you an atheist who does not believe in anything

build your house close to the burial ground and see what you would believe in

Bolex, you're quite funny. It's hard to find such a huge collection of prejudices in such a short post. maybe you should meet some real life atheists, they're not the devil incarnated, you know
By the way, who's the cock and who's the duck and what are your reasons for that choice?

By the way , if you an atheist who does not believe in anything

I believe in reason and I believe in self-ownership. I believe in some things!

How are you doing?
What is your own context of 'believe in God'? The fact that some people do not go to church or mosque does not mean they do not believe in God. Many believe in God but take religion as a thing of the mind and not until you go to church or mosque.
Back to your question, if that person possess 80-85% characteristics of my ideal woman, I will go ahead and marry her but on one condition, she must be ready to accept and follow my faith. It is a saying that women does not have religion i African context, let me put it that way. As a wife(submissive one) she should be ready to follow the faith of her husband, and when love exist in the relationship and is not one sided because it takes two to tangle, she should be ready to accept my faith as her husband or husband to be.
Have a nice time.
ENJOY!

After reading so much, and plenty of lols, what I will say is that if the originator of this thread wants to know if I can marry someone who does not believe in God - creator of the heavens and the earth, my simple answer is I will not marry such a person.

I will not marry someone who does not believe in God. As a matter of fact, our path may cross, but it will not get to that point that we will begin to talk about marriage.

As a wife(submissive one) she should be ready to follow the faith of her husband

You are forgetting that atheists generally do not believe in "submission". It would be intolerably difficult for a Nigerian woman who no longer believes in God to live with a male chauvinist pig who is also a religious bigot.

language, mr admin,

And when it comes to submission, I'm lost as to what the guys wants.

Do you want a lady that will just do as you wish all the time or what? Personally, I will not marry such a lady. I will rather marry someone who'd correct me when I'm about to go wrong. Someone I can open my heart to and have this confidence that she has my best interest at heart.  A lady that would comfort me wnen I'm feeling down and unhappy. She reads my mood perfectly and knows what to do.  All these ego stuff with men who feel they are lord over all in a family should stop.

I believe men and women of marriage ages should  do a lot to re-orientate themselves about marriage before dabbling into it.

But as per marrying an unbeliever, or someone who does not believe in the existence of the Lord God Almighty and the powers He wields, I will not think twice before chasing away such a person from my sight.

@ seun

Could your aggresiveness to any form of oppositon to atheism stem from your inner insecurities and doubt about your atheist beliefs and lifestyle?

I presume you are not really sure you want to ba an atheist.

mrlawng:

I presume you are not really sure you want to ba an atheist.

Really?I believe you should read more of his posts before making presumptions like that.

Babysomebody,thanks for pointing it out but no thanks,am not starting a new thread,do you have a problem with that?Sacarstic b!tch!

Bolex,your general point of view amuses me!How on earth do you reason?

spikedcylinder:

Really?I believe you should read more of his posts before making presumptions like that.

Babysomebody,thanks for pointing it out but no thanks,am not starting a new thread,do you have a problem with that?Sacarstic b!tch!

Bolex,your general point of view amuses me!How on earth do you reason?

You are definitely confused. What post  are you replying to, Cos I don't get your point.

mrlawng:

spikedcylinder link=topic=13880.msg416267#msg416267 date=1149885879:

[quote author=mrlawng link=topic=13880.msg407501#msg407501 date=1149612500]
I presume you are not really sure you want to ba an atheist.

Really?I believe you should read more of his posts before making presumptions like that.

Babysomebody,thanks for pointing it out but no thanks,am not starting a new thread,do you have a problem with that?Sacarstic b!tch!

Bolex,your general point of view amuses me!How on earth do you reason?

You are definitely confused. What post are you replying to, Cos I don't get your point.
[/quote]
Your assumption that somebody can choose what he/she believes if faulty. Belief is something you don't have any control over

Mrlawng,the first line and paragraph of my previous post was directed at you,others werent.
You are the confused one because you didnt seem to understand the concept of the spaces between each sentence.

No

@spikecylinder

I am not even going to exchange words with you. My post wasnt directed at you rather seun. Besides I have read some of your posts, you are not worth reasoning with.

dude.

If you want to excuse yourself from a conversation, it doesn't hurt to be polite.

But then people are hardly polite when religion is involved.

as for me, i can and would marry a guy that doesnt believe in the existence of god.u could be a fanatic and ur behaviour could be nothing to write home about u know.so far the guy im in love has high morals,respects what and who i believe in,bingo ill go right ahead and marry him.

As long as the lady is not an evil person,i will marry her.I know a lot of really good and charitable people who do not buy into the concept of a God.Whether she believes in God or not is between her and the creator to sort out.All i need from her is to be loving to me and kind to others.
And,by the way, i know a lot of folks who believe in God but are the most evil to walk on this earth.

And nobody should tell me that it is not possible for kindhearted people not to believe in God.

No way Jose!

miliki-ya,in your profile it states that you are male but in your post you said "the guy you are in love with".Are you gay?its justr a question,i'm not judging you.


After all these weeks,i just saw your post mrlawng. . . .most of my posts are not worth reasoning with? and all i can say is duh!!!

Hey Spiked! Nice profile pic mama!

@Topic
I guess it'd depend on how their beliefs influenced their lifestyle.

chinani:

@Topic
I guess it'd depend on how their beliefs influenced their lifestyle.

Can you be more specific? I mean, how would (the absence of) God-belief be a determining factor in one's lifestyle?

nferyn:

Can you be more specific? I mean, how would (the absence of) God-belief be a determining factor in one's lifestyle?

Very good question.

The thing is that I was thinking of it in the other way. For instance, a person who promoted religiosity but lives an antisocial (in the most clinical use of the phrase) lifestyle would repulse me more than a jerk for whom "survival of the fittest" was liturgy.

But then John Lennon once "God is a concept by which we measure our pain." _{(those are the lyrics right?)} Point being that in so much as philosophy influences behavior it is the precursor to all lifestyles.

Some atheists are apathetic or nihilists as a extension of the (non?) religious beliefs. I meant all these things.

Some atheists are apathetic or nihilists as a extension of the (non?) religious beliefs.

The keyword is "some". "Some" proves nothing. "Some" Christians are those things too.

chinani:

Some atheists are apathetic or nihilists as a extension of the (non?) religious beliefs. I meant all these things.

It's a common phallacy among theists to assume that because no external ultimate sense to existence can be detected in a purely materialistic world that an atheist cannot personally [/b]give sense to his or her existence, on the contrary. This freedom allows amore genuine besis for a humanistic morality, as it is not something absolute, instituted from above, but a [b]personal choice.
Let me turn the argument around, what is the value of moral behaviour if it is borne out of fear for eternal damnation?
Now, why would you assume that atheism would lead to a higher proportion of nilhilistic or apathethic thinking than among theists? It might very well be possible that the exact opposite is true (Calvinistic determinism, End Times prophecies, etc)

I see where Chinani's coming from. This is just anecdotal on my part, but anyways.
My ex boss was agnostic, although I thought he was more athestic than agnostic. I also had an old colleague who was also an atheist. And there was the Nihilistic tendency Chinani talked about in both individuals. I don't mean they were horrible people, but if you can imagine the extreme opposite of someone who lived their life in fear of punishment from an higher power, that's how these two seemed to live. A type of "no holds barred" kind of mentality, kind of like "everything goes". I, of course, don't claim all atheists are like this. It's just an observation.  
And this doesn't mean I advocate for the type of religious extremity that goes on in Naija. (I have spoken against this many times). But I think a small amount of spirituality in individuals doesn't hurt.

@Nia,

It might be that your encounters are somewhat coloured by observational bias and perhaps by the specific cultural context of the place you reside in. I'm assuming now you live in the US and it takes a special kind of person to come out if you're living in a place where theism is the norm (the same goes for Nigeria to an even larger degree), this obviously means that the more extreme people (both positively and negatively) are likely to draw attention.
Where I live, religion is a private matter and it is not done to publicly express your religious affiliation. In this context someone's atheism is as inconsequential for a public persona as someone's favorite colour.
If you mean by spirituality a feeling of awe and wonder over the marvels of the world, the feeling to be deeply connected and responsible for the world, then it does not take any kind of religious belief to feel that.

When I wrote "I meant all these things" I was referring to my entire post (incl. the comments about theists) not just the comments about non-believers.

nferyn:

It's a common phallacy among theists to assume that because no external ultimate sense to existence can be detected in a purely materialistic world that an atheist cannot personally [/b]give sense to his or her existence, on the contrary.

I agree with this. I was actually an existentialist at 14. Since it's been nearly 7 years since my beliefs have changed I won't try to explain it to anyone but you have a point.

nferyn:
This freedom allows [b]amore genuine besis for a humanistic morality, as it is not something absolute, instituted from above, but a personal choice.

This is a value judgment. While I may agree with it, I don't think that you are more equipped than the Pope or Al haji to decide which peoples are more genuine. As long as one views his life meaningfully, isn't the source of meaning secondary?

nferyn:
Let me turn the argument around, what is the value of moral behaviour if it is borne out of fear for eternal damnation?

I think the concept of hell has little moral value. I think it's primarily negative and antithetical to God. I don't believe in hell.

nferyn:
Now, why would you assume that atheism would lead to a higher proportion of nihilistic or apathetic thinking than among theists? It might very well be possible that the exact opposite is true (Calvinistic determinism, End Times prophecies, etc)

Well I did not assume. I interpret the views of atheists as nilhistic and sometimes apathetic. (Not all of them.) Your post made me realize that maybe this is a value judgment borne out of my subjectivity. This may be true but even when I try to be neutral that is my interpretation. Again, let me stress, I do not be all or most. . .a better way to think of it is greater than the percentage you'd find in a random sampling of the population and greater than the percentage you'd find in a sampling among believers alone.

nferyn:

@Nia,

It might be that your encounters are somewhat coloured by observational bias and perhaps by the specific cultural context of the place you reside in. I'm assuming now you live in the US and it takes a special kind of person to come out if you're living in a place where theism is the norm (the same goes for Nigeria to an even larger degree), this obviously means that the more extreme people (both positively and negatively) are likely to draw attention.
Where I live, religion is a private matter and it is not done to publicly express your religious affiliation. In this context someone's atheism is as inconsequential for a public persona as someone's favorite colour.
If you mean by spirituality a feeling of awe and wonder over the marvels of the world, the feeling to be deeply connected and responsible for the world, then it does not take any kind of religious belief to feel that.

I know. I actually wanted to include that in my post. That my background in a deeply religious society might have been at work when I perceive this people in their natural elements and everyday lives. Hmnn, I suspect that would prolly be the case for a while. I do like that Atheists tend to be more laid back and relaxed about many things, but i'm just not sure the belief that "anything goes" necessarily makes the world a better place (of course neither does the extreme opposite). I prefer to take each issue as they come, so to speak, rather than an ultra liberal kind of outlook on everything. I'm not saying theist cannot be extremely liberal, but it tends to be more of a characteristics of atheists. This, of course, doesn't change the posts I made earlier in this thread. Cause generally speaking, I have no problem getting along with or being married to an atheist.