'I had an atheist wedding!'

[Rhamiel]

I believe that where love is, God is, and this was an absolute, honest-to-goodness love match between two people who were both ethical and humanist. I have been to many church weddings where people were taking bets as to how long the marriage would last; this is one for the ages.

no one is good, we are all sinners and can only be saved by Christ

Because you love each other and you wish to make this known throughout civilisation?

Atheists might not believe in God, but that doesn't mean they're completely devoid of human emotions.

LOL silly Antigone, everyone knows all atheists are really robots who were made by satan

this thread is trippy, i mean is it that weird that athiests might want to get married and have a ceremony?

 

[Fantine]

There are certain societal and tax benefits that accrue with marriage.

In a sad and kind of ridiculous instance, a friend of my daughter's recently got married because you can't get financial aid for college without your parents' income being considered until you are 24, and he's only 21, and his parents wanted him to pay for the rest of his education.

Being married and working part-time at entry level jobs, he and his wife will probably be able to get Pell Grants and all sorts of stuff.

There have also been tax penalties that accrue with marriage, particularly for senior citizens who may be getting spousal benefits from former husband's (e.g. veterans' widows benefits.)

That being said, I believe that atheists are as capable of commitment and love as religious people.

And we are all said to be temples of the Holy Spirit, our personal beliefs notwithstanding.

 

[Rebekka]

How can fornication be a sin if you don't believe in sin? Nothing is sinful if you deny the existence of sin.

My question was: do you want them to fornicate? You know that fornication is a sin. Abortion is a sin, too. Do you want people who don't believe that abortion is a sin to have an abortion (since nothing is sinful if you deny the existence of sin), or do you want to stop them from sinning? So, when atheists who are living together want to get married, who are we to say that there is no reason for them to get married, they should rather sign a legal contract or continue to cohabitate?

The church recognizes marriage between nonbelievers. So for the church it makes a difference whether atheists fornicate or not.

 

[The Penitent Man]

Atheists would not recognize the moral implications of fornication as we do. What we think of as fornication (illicit sexual intercourse) has no negative connotations in the atheist worldview. Your worldview determines your morality and concept of right vs. wrong.

If nonbelievers are fornicating and having abortions, it is not my place to save them from themselves. Especially if they wholeheartedly reject Christian values.

 

[Lady Bug]

but if you deny the existence of sin it doesn't stop the thing itself from being a sin

 

[Aibrean]

But God is love ...

God's love is not the same as man's love. If love alone could save people there would be no point in having a gospel.

 

[The Penitent Man]

but if you deny the existence of sin it doesn't stop the thing itself from being a sin

Yes, I know that.

 

[Dark_Lite]

Morality in atheism is generally founded off of societal needs and evolutionary consequences. That is, what is moral is usually determined by what is good for society. For example, murder is immoral because it is in direct conflict with the continued well-being of society. I'm still interested in finding a philosophically maximalist moral system that is inherently atheistic, but being maximalist founded on something "higher" than just society--if nothing else to satiate my intellectual curiosity.

 

[Rebekka]

Atheists would not recognize the moral implications of fornication as we do. What we think of as fornication (illicit sexual intercourse) has no negative connotations in the atheist worldview. Your worldview determines your morality and concept of right vs. wrong.

If nonbelievers are fornicating and having abortions, it is not my place to save them from themselves. Especially if they wholeheartedly reject Christian values.

Your post surprises me because most catholics I know do try to save others from sin (especially in case of abortion, but other things too).

I disagree about them rejecting christian values - a lot of atheists embrace christian values (they're as often as christians against murder, lying, stealing, adultery, to name a few commandments), and the fact that they want to (and do) get married indicates that they believe in monogamy and fidelity and commitment, which are not exactly contrary to christian values either.

Also, I would not lump all atheists together. There are definitely atheists who have the same moral objections to fornication as christians. I know, because I was one of them.

 

[Antigone]

Morality in atheism is generally founded off of societal needs and evolutionary consequences. That is, what is moral is usually determined by what is good for society. For example, murder is immoral because it is in direct conflict with the continued well-being of society. I'm still interested in finding a philosophically maximalist moral system that is inherently atheistic, but being maximalist founded on something "higher" than just society--if nothing else to satiate my intellectual curiosity.

...And secular humanism didn't do it for you?

 

[Winter]

You guys are missing the point .... this isn't about atheists not being able to marry. I'm glad they marry. They should marry. They deserve love and marriage in their life (however they describe marriage to be).

Its about the author's over produced "anxiety-ridden journey" on how she was going to get married since marriage ceremonies tend to use the word "God" in it. This was a big deal for her. This is tough. Right now, this is "the" pivotal point in her life - so much so, that this personal journey of hers just had to be written and documented so the whole world can empathize with this insurmountable challenge. Of course, she could have saved herself so much heartache if she just hired a friend to do the vows. End of story. The tone of her article was ridiculous.

Now, if she just took that same energy and same passion which she employed in her article and spoke about the massive famine going on in Darfur ...well that's a different story.

 

[QuantaCura]

I once met someone who writes liturgies for Humanistic Jews--they are atheists but embrace Jewish customs and rituals sanitized of the mention of God.

 

[QuantaCura]

God's love is not the same as man's love. If love alone could save people there would be no point in having a gospel.

This isn't really true. God became man to show us the depths of His love. We are called to love as the God-Man loved (with the aid of His grace) and we do this because we have faith that it is the Way of salvation. The Gospel teaches us how to truly love--without love we are nothing.

 

[Aibrean]

Those who have no gospel do not know God's love.

Man= human. I'm not talking about Christ if you read the thread.

 

[Rebekka]

Its about the author's over produced "anxiety-ridden journey" on how she was going to get married since marriage ceremonies tend to use the word "God" in it. This was a big deal for her. This is tough. Right now, this is "the" pivotal point in her life - so much so, that this personal journey of hers just had to be written and documented so the whole world can empathize with this insurmountable challenge. Of course, she could have saved herself so much heartache if she just hired a friend to do the vows. End of story. The tone of her article was ridiculous.

Oh, I agree, but I feel that way about most blogs, including the religious ones (a friend of mine has one that makes my skin crawl every time I make the mistake to read it, hoping he will have something sensible to say for a change). The internet has made people even more exhibitionistic than we were before.

I think it's different in the US or in other countries where church weddings have legal status - over here they don't, so atheists don't get married in church (unless they're marrying a christian, but then they need to ask for dispensation and have some extra talks with the priest), they get married in the city hall. And the ceremony there has no reference to God. So over here she would not have felt the need to make a point out of it, I think. But then again, in the US there are church-less options to get married, too.