it all depends on how adament you are about your religion. If you honestly believe that not partaking in your particular flavor of religion will condemn your child to hell, it makes sense that it would put a huge strain on your relationship.

However, if you're like me and see religion as just another tool to make reality understandable and, really, comfortable, you probably don't give a damn about what someone chooses, as long as they don't bother you about it.

ok this is something i have feelings about...

i think that some people don't understand how seriously people take their own religion...most people just go around life with that sentiment of tolerance and say oh, they're all right, you can choose whatever you want (which is fine, i don't believe that's true, but tolerance is better than hostility) but once you enter into any kind of relationship with someone who DOES take their religion seriously (quick disclaimer, i hate the word religion) if they truly believe in their own faith, then it should affect the relationship tremendously (in a good way or a bad way)
i'll just use me for example, i don't have a problem with having friends who are not christians (as i am, and one who takes it seriously not passively) they can choose whatever they want, but it's going to affect our relationship, maybe not horribly, but to be honest, i can't be as intimately connected with that person, i can't share things that they'll understand sometimes, plus there's something about the bond that true christians share that i can't explain..
but anyway, once i start to enter into a relationship with a guy, it changes things, especially since i don't believe in just for fun dating, i believe in looking for people who i could possibly call my husband someday.....and if i am with a guy who truly doesn't love Jesus like I do, then how can i choose him? because i want to be as intimate and connected to this guy as i can be, and i want to be on the same page with him value-wise and i want to know that he serves a greater purpose...
when it comes to parents, and other family members, it's hard, but there's no way (if you're truly loving) that it will ruin a relationship with a family member if your different religions (it may cause stress, heartache, worry, though)
when it comes to kids...i've thought about this a lot...
i believe in my faith very seriously, and i want my kids to know what i believe and how that affects my life and that i believe it's the true way...and i will teach it to my kids, i'll bring them to church and sunday school or whatever (making sure of course that i honestly approve of the environment and teachers and it's not detrimental and they're not preaching lies and hate)
but it's only because i want them to understand it, if there comes a time in their life that they say this is a load of crap and i want out, then i'd let them have the freedom to explore their faith, i mean it's healthy to have doubt and wonder why and test things...but i think before they ever felt that way, hopefully i would have set a good enough example as to why i believe that christianity is right and backed it up with my walking the talk, truly loving and serving as Christ teaches, and they wouldn't have that desire to rebel...
if they did all i could do is let them go, and pray for them, that they would return...

sooo pretty much yeah...
:)

So, for you it has to do with connection, that it's such a large facet of your life that to be with someone that is on the opposite end faith-wise would be to give up a huge level of connection. I can understand that completely.

I think that happens with people in a lot of other personality traits and beliefs, too, though. Finding someone who can understand you completely because they understand themselves completely in that same way is very powerful. But I don't think it necessarily has to do with faith. I think it can manifest itself in many other forms- perhaps the two people had very similar life changing experiences, or connect idealogically. It's whatever is most important to those people. For you, it's your faith. For me, it's... I don't really know what it is. Hm.

Great comment.

-Moses

ill hit this one up later

I find I just naturally gravitate towards non-religious people (not specifically atheists, but people who just aren't, for whatever reason, religious). I do have a few religious friends, and I like discussing the matter with them, but they don't seem to like our conversations. I do have to try to remember not to scoff whenever people say they're going to church or something. But overall, I don't think it has much of an impact on my friendships, depending on how tactfully I discuss certain issues with people.

As for more intimate relationships, I really can't say I could ever get very close to someone who buys into any organized religion. If my (entirely hypothetical) child(ren)* did convert to some form of theism, I'd do everything in my power to not let that come between us. Incidentally, that's actually been a tradition that's plagued my father's family for a few generations now, and has made for some rather tense/strained relationships between father and son. I don't want that to happen with my (barely plausible hypothetical) child(ren).

* I refer to children as hypothetical because in reality I don't think I have what it takes to be a father and have absolutely no intention of having any kids.

quick question before this goes on..

what is your definition of "religion" and "a religious person"?

because as i stated before, i don't like the word religion, to me, the word religion just means something that you do sytematically everyday, patterned kind of

i don't have a religion, i have a relationship

w/o getting too preachy (and i can't speak for other religions/faiths) i think that a true follower of Christ is capable of having real, meaningful relationships with any kind of people because that's what christianity (or a following of the teachings of Christ) should be, straight from Jesus' mouth, he said that the most important way to live is to just love God and love others...that's it...so what our faith tells us to do is love others! which means have relationships with them, touch them, love them, directly or indirectly, for a minute or for a lifetime
to be a christian means to have relationships,loving people as God loves us..

but it's soo soo prevalent when people who are "religious" but aren't really following Christ's teachings of truly loving others, they are the ones who ruin relationships and push people away and give us a bad name and make people not want to be around us...
(well i can't put all the blame, i'm human too and probably do that at times....)
anyway, that's just what i wanted to say to kind of speak for christians...hopefully i didn't offend or get anything wrong...
;)

Religion I define as a system of beliefs pertaining to super being or beings and the afterlife. Not just one belief, but an interrelated grouping of them. They can be clearly defined (catholocism) or very vague (christian). That is why I don't define atheism or agnosticism as a religion, because it is only one particular belief, not a system. Faith I define a bit differently. Faith I see as believing in something spiritually or emotionally.

So I really use the two terms loosely and only for convenience in discussion. I don't mean to use the words with any of the connotations that are popularly attached to them, just merely in their dictionary definitions.

-Moses

gotcha, that's good to know, because people might look at me and see a "religious" person, but that's not how i view or define myself...

hm, this didn't go much further, but i guess there might not be a whole lot more...

thanks for the comment (even though it was on facebook) <3