Cupids Dating Blog

My friend and his beautiful Jewish wife are a fine example of how two people of different backgrounds can come together, but that isn't to say that the process didn't involve a lot of soul-searching and thought. My friend isn't Jewish and still has an uneasy relationship with religion, but his new beautiful wife came from a fairly religious upbringing.

Interestingly, when they decided to get married the issue of religion didn't come up so much in relation to the couple's divergent personal beliefs as it did with respect to how they'd raise their future children. In order to have a rabbi preside at the ceremony my friend had to agree that he'd raise his children according to Jewish tradition.

Now, lots of people say things to get what they want, lots of people get married in religious ceremonies who are not otherwise religious and don't think twice about it, but my old friend is very serious about the promises he makes. Whether he believes in gods or not is immaterial. When he makes a promise he feels that it's important to keep it. Before he could agree to anything he had to spend a long time deciding whether or not it was right to make such a promise.

In the end he made peace with the decision, but it wasn't simple and I think he'll be in for some interesting conversations when his kids are old enough to ask questions about spirituality, their beliefs and their place in the world. It'll be hard for him to be honest about his beliefs and his questions and still be faithful to the promise he made at the same time.

Religion might not matter so much when you're meeting someone new and trying to get to know each other and have fun, but when it comes to saying "I do" and deciding how to shape your lives together it becomes much more complicated.