i just think it would be unrealistic for me to get along all the time someone believes who completely clashed with mine but if i really cared for someone i don't think i would let it get in the way

I think every couple or so has its differences otherwise it would be boring.

i'm going with like, fundamentally different belief systems here. like, i could never date a really devout catholic, or someone who really enjoyed destroying the environment and torturing animals.. or a republican haha. those are not the kinds of things that you can just ignore in a relationship, they're a part of who you are as a person. i've tried dating people with beliefs that different from my own, and you just wind up hating each other.

The only rule I have with love is that I will only marry someone whose Jewish...I know it sounds extremely closed minded of me, but I have my reasons. Political differences I can handle...but religious differences are a little too much.

My singles ad should read: "Progressive-minded, left leaning Buddhist male seeks authoritarian fundamentalist Christian, Republican female." Think it'll work? LOL! :p

love overcomes it all...

My partner and I rarely agree on any topic, be it religion, politics, and everything in between, but our relationship is a strong one. I honestly believe that if you truly love someone then you can overcome any differences you may have.

The Bible says that anyone who does not accept Jesus as their king will go to hell, I don't want to be in love with someone who I won't be with forever.

that's really sweet knifewrench!
and yes i think you'll get loads of replies john!

Belief is an importaint thing. If you have seperate beliefs, being together will be hard. I beleve a person can't sacrifice beliefs for love. They are like 2 positivly charged ions. They don't go together.

hah! awesome johminh. and unfortunately, love doesn't overcome it all.. that's one of the most important lessons i learned from having divorced parents. loving someone alone isn't enough to make a relationship work, and in reality, opposites are opposites for a reason.

i'm not saying you can't have a relationship with someone whose views differ from your own, but in the long run, very few of them work out. in any case, i would way rather be with someone i can have a conversation with who won't always be arguing the opposite side.

i'm very sorry about your parent however also coming from a broken family you can't let it taint your view of relationships
i think if two people really care about each other they can work through anything even if means sacrificing certain things

mormon father, catholic mother ; they have been married now for 44years they raised us as believing in a higher being but not afliated to one religon and told us to find it for our selves. we had a very loving family without religious boundries just love.

i`m catholic & go to church at least once a month w// my family but my boyfriend is atheist, doesn`t matter to me but does to my mother .

my family isn't what i would call "broken" by any means. my point is that, statistically, love is not enough to make a relationship work. you do actually need to have things in common with someone.

again, i'm not saying that this is true for everyone, simply for the majority. obviously there are examples of catholics marrying atheists, republicans marrying democrats, etc. more often than not, these relationships work out because the people in them aren't particularly adament about their beliefs.. still, some are and it works alright for them.

most of the time, however, once you're old enough to have really established your beliefs, it's really hard to be in a relationship with someone who doesn't understand them, or feel the same way.

broken... i was using in the context to just mean divorce that's all

i think it's unusual of you and unfair of you to assume that just because a relationship between two different people has worked it means that they aren't adamant about their believes?

Of course it would be a little difficult, but even a relationship with people with the same beliefs is tough. They just have to truly love each other, and eventually it'll all end well... I believe that it's not a matter of having different beliefs or different things in common that ends relationships, it's a matter of true love or not...

i'm not assuming anything, debs. i didn't say it applied to everyone, just a lot of them.

this whole discussion is making me feel very jaded.. but i think it's just realistic. i've been in this situation, and i know other people who have been in this situation and that is my experience. i seriously believe it's really naive to just say "love will fix everything". love is not that easy, unfortunately. i think divorce rates would be a lot lower if more people realized that.

i think i'll be more of a cohabitater (not sure if that's a word lol)
but you did implie that most would then. and i know having seen many different relationships work and having gone out with a vegan very left wing thinking when i completely disagree on both of these things neither of us never once gave up our believes (sadley the relationship ended due a completely unrelated problem)

if your tired of the discussion then leave it lol

It would be a little trying, but I think it would be very shallow if I stop trying to make a relationship work just based on beliefs or opinions.

It would be very hard for me to find someone who has exactly the same beliefs as my own really. It might be a little difficult, since some of my own beliefs don't generate towards the norm, but I don't think it should really matter if I loved the person.

I get along with my family, and we clash on a lot of things, but I wouldn't give them up. I've got a Catholic grandmother and mother, and an atheist grandfather. And though I don't really agree with any of them, I still love them, so why shouldn't I do that if I really loved the person I was in a relationship with?

i am very VERY opinionated and if my partner was totally against me and not at all open-minded, it wouldn't work.

try!