Atheism and romance

In the Western World and globally, a significant majority of atheists are men. See: Atheism and women.

Unlike Judeo-Christianity, which has multiple references to romance and has weddings in houses of worship (Christian church is the bride of Christ, Song of Songs and the book of Ruth which is a book of romance and redemption, and Saint Valentine's Day), atheism is devoid of romance.

Atheism and factors which impede romance

Gender imbalance: Significantly less atheist women

In addition, there is a large gender imbalance in the atheist population (see: Atheism and women). In 2016, Atheist Alliance International (AAI) conducted an annually reoccurring atheist census project and found: "At the time of writing, the Atheist Census Project recorded that on average worldwide 73.2% of respondents were male. The result is consistent with other research... As such, the focus of many scholarly papers has been on seeking to explain this persistent observation."

Atheism complicating dating and lasting romantic relationships

An atheist who lives in a theistic society wrote at Atheist Nexus website forum:

“

I am looking to establish a dialog about people's thoughts on discrimination or complications that Atheism has caused in your love lives, or the love lives of people around you. I have heard many stories of people who have had trouble finding that special someone and even people who have had marriages fail over this issue. In my own life, since I have "come out" as an Atheist... I have experienced a lot of let downs in my love life because of people that cannot seem to accept my lack of belief. One particular instance was the most frustrating because the woman I was dating was an Agnostic who didn't really have a solid stance one way or another on anything spiritual/religious... but she still just couldn't accept the fact that I didn't believe in some kind of higher power.... That isn't the only problem that I've had in this capcity... I've had Christians who refused outright to get involved with me because of their faith... and we all know that the majority of people out there are Christians and Muslims, both of which have strict rules on faith in this regard. I've had Pagans (two, in fact) get into arguments with me that were started by them and that lead to a falling out. It just seems to me that finding love as a non-believer is much more difficult than for the broader spectrum of people out there.

”

Bible and interfaith marriages

The Bible teaches Christians not to marry a non-Christian (The Bible also teaches a believer to stay married to a non-believer if you are already married).

Interfaith marriage statistics

Interfaith marriages often have greater marital friction and interfaith marriages historically have had higher rates of divorce. According to a Washington Post article, "According to calculations based on the American Religious Identification Survey of 2001, people who had been in mixed-religion marriages were three times more likely to be divorced or separated than those who were in same-religion marriages." Therefore, it would not be surprising if atheist/theist marriages also have increased marital friction and higher rates of divorce since these two worldviews are so different.

Atheism and marriage

See also: Atheism and marriage and Atheist marriages

Christian apologist Michael Caputo wrote:

“

Recently the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has published its mammoth study on Religion in America based on 35,000 interviews... According to the Pew Forum a whopping 37% of atheists never marry as opposed to 19% of the American population, 17% of Protestants and 17% of Catholics.

”

Theodore Beale declared that according to the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) "more than half of all atheists and agnostics don’t get married."

Christian satire about atheism and romantic love

True Freethinker is a Christian apologetics website run by Ken Ammi which offers many refutations of atheism.

See also: Christian marriage and Atheism and marriage and Atheist marriages

The Christian apologist Ken Ammi, in order to demonstrate the moral and spiritual poverty of atheism, satirically gave this example of words that would be appropriate for an "Atheist Valentine's Day" card:

“

I am currently secreting manifestations of brain stuff towards you... My cost-benefit analysis has concluded that you qualify as a mate, adequate to assist my survival and reproducing my genes - will you be my valentines.

”

See also

• Atheism and love

• Atheism and social/interpersonal intelligence