[Lauriebell82]

what is everyone's take on dating someone from a different religion? has anyone had any problems with it? i'm just wondering how it would effect a serious relationship possibly leading to marriage and children.

[Star Gazer]

Depends on what the two religions are, and each person's attitude towards it - whether they actively practice, how orthodox/strict they are with their religion's teachings, their respective families' expectations, etc.

Are you and your BF of different religions?

[Lauriebell82]

yeah..i am catholic and he is brethren. anyway he is willing to go to church with me and stuff. i didnt see this as a real big deal until we went the other night but he didnt kneel down, say any of the prayers and stuff. it was hard to see him to do that because my dad is a different religion. he is jewish and my mom is catholic, but my dad consented to let me and my little sister be raised catholic. i want my children to be catholic as well.

so here comes the problem: i didnt realize how much it bothered me that he isnt catholic until we actually went and i saw him just sitting there. i should be lucky he is willng to do this, and i am glad. another issue is what my children would be raised. in the beginning of our relationship i sort of just asked him whether or not he wanted to raise his children brethren, and he said "no, not neccessarily." i wanted to ask him whether or not he would care if our future children would be raised catholic but i felt weird since we'd only be dating like a month. now 6 months later i still dont know if i should talk to him about it. we havnt talked all that much about marriage, its probably still too soon, so i dont want to freak him out. he isnt all that religious, he only goes to church a couple times a year when he goes home. so i guess i'm just wondering ifanyone else has been in this situation and what they did.

[Star Gazer]

Well, he's also Christian so... I don't really see a huge conflict here. However, if he were Mormon/LDS or JW or something, it would be more difficult. The role your religion/faith plays in your life should be your focus instead of the technical difference in your respective religions. He might not have a problem with raising the kids Catholic, but he might have a problem with regularly attending church, sending them to CCD, etc., know what I mean? I'm not sure how large a role your faith plays in your life, but your views in this regard should be fairly close to one another if you want to live happily ever after.

As a side note, many Christian demoninations don't have the level formality involved in attending a Catholic mass (I'm Catholic too, BTW), so when they attend a Catholic mass they don't know "what to do" - kneeling, communion, "peace be with you," our prayers, etc. So don't be too concerned just because he "just sits there."