Is religion always a deal breaker?

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I feel compelled to clarify here, that if it's merely a knowledge issue, then it is not necessary that they be "less" than me in some way. While they might be lesser than me in terms of scientific knowledge, they could be far more informed than me when it comes to the ins and outs of laws and the legal system. There are cases where a lack of sufficient scientific knowledge is quite understandable, such as, for example, having to commit most of one's time to studying law. If I were to meet a potential mate that was in this situation, I would probably be much more pliable to their beliefs.



Fortunately, there is no lack of atheists and agnostics in the world, especially in my preferred university-educated crowd, and my current homeland of New Zealand.

[edit] But ultimately, it is true that I hold any potential mates to a minimum intelligence standard, because only the intelligent are capable of holding my interest and desire. I'd sooner settle for nothing than a half-witted mate.

It's not about believing if there is or isn't a God. It's about people essentially saying "I HAVE THE ANSWERS TO SOMETHING IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW THE ANSWERS TO!! !"

Date who you want. Implying that you avoid religious people because they'd be too stupid for you is something I don't agree with but whatever works for you works.

My experience (which is of growing up in a very liberal place with a big name engineering school and a lot of science and technology jobs) just doesn't fit the narrative of people who believe in god being worse at science than people who don't. Also because of where I live there are more Presbyterians and Unitarians than bible thumpers.

It just so happens that many of the most brilliant scientist and engineers I know are people of faith.
Some of the best scientific and mathematics minds in history were people of faith.
I'm not going to say I'm a genius or anything but I'm pursuing a degree in a STEM field at a school with an excellent reputation. And I don't go to temple or anything but I don't reject belief.
The best science teacher I ever had (which is a stiff competition) was a nun. (a jew in catholic school, it was very silly)

I think there is a difference between having faith and disregarding evidence of evolution because bible. The former I'm pretty defensive of, the latter is stupid.

but if we're judged by the collective behavior and intelligence of everyone bearing what is a very broad label, you have a lot of idiot 14yr olds on reddit to account for

I would rather date someone who didn't care, than a preachy atheist.

When trolling people, it pays to at least try to be subtle, even if we're all aspies here. Not trolling? In that case...

I am going to earnestly hope you're intelligent enough to realize that I have stated, more than once, that not all religious people are "too stupid". I have stated that many of them may just be ignorant of science, which is not necessarily an indication of stupidity (Read the lawyer example I gave....TWICE).



They're uncommon. For example, the National Academy of Sciences is made up almost entirely of people that reject the notion of God. As well, the majority of the scientific community rejects God, especially as you get to more elite and accomplished scientists.



http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/news/file002.html

Oh, and I forgot to mention the third possibility: Sometimes even perfectly intelligent and knowledgeable people like to delude themselves with religious beliefs in order to comfort themselves (EG, belief in an afterlife, so that death is not the end). I suppose this one could be understandable sometimes as well.



This argument is deeply flawed on the basis of the fact that these historical figures did not have access to the same knowledge we have today, knowledge that allows scientists to soundly reject any notion of the supernatural, including belief in any kind of god(s). If all of those people could be raised today in a modern environment, with modern knowledge, and STILL ended up being religious, then you might have something.



I really think about it as simply as this: Why believe in something that has no evidence to support it? If a credible body of evidence in support of some kind of supernatural phenomenon were to arise, the scientific community would be going apeshit over it. The reason it's not, is because there IS no such body of evidence. The only viewpoint that does have evidence is naturalism.

Last edited by Shau on 03 Aug 2012, 8:16 am, edited 2 times in total.

Someone knows me too well.

if a deal is made on a religious foundation, then only moral altercations between conflicting ideas can break the deal, so i suppose that divergent ideals that are not perceived before the "closing" of a "deal" could wind up breaking deals of that nature.

Difficult question. It can be and it can not be.

How do you want your children raised?

Are you ok with getting married in a church?

I would and have dated women of a different faith so I don't mind it as long as we are somewhere
on the same page but I would much prefer someone that is the same faith especially in terms of raising any
children we might have. That is very important to me.

Religion is a deal breaker if one or both partners makes it an issue. I'll use my situation as an example of what I mean. My family's Catholic but not very religious; they believe in god, have some religious type values but they don't go to church & they don't really talk about religion. I went to a Catholic high-school & a Catholic school from 5th to middle of 6th. I never got into that religious stuff. I consider myself to be a Secular Humanist. There's plenty people here that are religious & unfortunately religion gives some a reason to be intolerant of others; like they preach religion & push religion onto others giving the reason that they are trying to save them. & when the others stand up for their own personal beliefs or disbelefs; the religious get very upset & start ranting about how their religious freedom is being attacked. I have problems with people like that because I don't like having religion pushed onto me. Only some religious people are like that thou & I have known some religious who very nice & never pushed their religion onto me. They may mention how they went to church or mention god or something in conversation but they don't preach religion at me. I'm respectful that they are religions since they are respectful that I'm not.
It's like that with my relationship too. My girlfriend is a Pantheist. I cant explain what it is because I don't know much at all about it. Cass keeps it to herself but I'd gladly support her if she was more open about it with me. I'd have no problem with her praying around me & I'd go go church with her if she wanted to go but there would be problems if she started pushing her beliefs onto me; like if she started telling me what I need to do or cant do or that I need to believe in order to be saved.

For me it is always a dealbreaker.

If my partner's religious views were too different to my own and/or often expressed it would not last. Though if they followed a religion that I personally am fond of (though don't follow) I wouldn't mind at all.

Depends. I don't do staunch atheism and staunch christianity.

Couldn't be in a relationship with those. It's not a deal breaker to have beliefs and not really care, but it is if they conflict with my way of thinking.

But you JUST said, "I believe that religious belief is either: 1. A sign of lesser intelligence, or 2. A sign of ignorance about science.


That's an awfully large assumption to make... who are you to decide whether someone else knows about science or not - have you asked them? There's a lot of science out there and some of it conflicts with each other (and we're talking pure science, nothing to do with beliefs at all.)
I'm guessing you'd feel very insulted if someone called you an ignorant moron for believing one scientific principle over another one - especially if they didn't even bother to ask why you believed it.

It's those powerful emotions and the way people live their lives that can cause either extreme bonding or conflict - but the same can also be said for two athiests or two people in the same church. The only real answer is, "There's a pretty big chance of conflict - better talk about it."

Correct. I also said that there are frequently good excuses for when number two there occurs, such as........the lawyer example, which will be the third time I've mentioned it now. Later on, I've also noted a third reason you'll have religiosity occur. Have a look over that one.



Show me a single piece of science supporting the existence of a supernatural phenomenon (such as the existence of a pixie or a sky wizard). You won't, because there is none, at least none which has been accepted by the scientific community. So, I don't need to ask them why they believe in pixies and sky wizards because I already know it's not based on any kind of scientific rationalism.



You're making a very flawed analogy here. Any scientific principle that has any degree of scientific acceptance has at least some kind of body of evidence to support it. So, when you have two opposing scientific theories or hypotheses, both of them have a body of evidence to back them up, so people on both sides are using reasonable, logical thought processes involving the usage of evidence (although one may have more solid reasoning than the other, and a fellow scientist CAN call you out for being a bit ignorant for it too!). The religious people are generally using irrational or nonsensical thought processes to arrive at their conclusions (which are completely absent of any empirical evidence).

Or, at best, they're deluding themselves.

I'm afraid the joke is waaaaaaaay lost on me.