Atheist weddings?

Exactly!

 

Many religious weddings and funerals aren't held in a church either.

Like basically everyone else has said, you just leave any references to a deity out.

It's going to be interesting if I ever marry my boyfriend. He's moderately deist and I'm weak atheist/agnostic but with a Jewish cultural background... so I want to have all the Jewish elements of a wedding (stomping on the glass, etc) but with no reference to God or a rabbi, and also significantly in Spanish which is neither of our first languages. Hooray.

 

I absolutely detest you.

 

Well said.

 

(laughs)

 

Yeah...really. I agree.

It's really sad that more people don't know about other religions/or lack of religion.

And, I know how this girl feels.... Iwas raised in a Catholic family, and grew up knowing NOTHING about other beliefs/religions/theories/lack of, etc. I never felt religious, and never felt that I believed in any sort of higher power..... but, because I was brought up in that sort of environment, I thought something was just WRONG with me....my parents always made it sound like, people who didnt believe in God, were bad.

Now, that they know I don't....they understand, that it has nothing to do with that. I think they were just as badly warped by THEIR family and upbringing on religion, as I was for a while.

Luckily 2006, is a BIT more diverse, and people learn sooner, than they used to.

 

My parents were legally married in a courthouse. They basically go through all the same mumbo jumbo but without religious overtones. They had a formal ceremony when I was in around second or third grade, if I remember correctly.

About the praying thing...my grandma says the same thing, and when she does, I take it more as a "wish us luck" or "think about us." She means "pray" but at the same time she's also saying that she wants our support. And why deprive someone of that? Prayer has been shown to help people in numerous ways, much as medicine has a placebo effect. It doesn't hurt me to say that I'll pray (or imply that I will) and have them think I will even if I don't do it, since I don't believe in a God or gods.

 

From the legal standpoint, marriage is a civil contract. A legal declaration of a commitment to each other not just spiritual also the gaining of certain financial and medical benifits.

To do what is natural is debatable for humans. Some animals such as swans are monogamous and some animals are not.

 

I'm atheist, and my wedding will be outside, with either a really cool hippy or a justice of the peace. Vows will be written by us.

Only problem I can foresee: His family. And possibly some of mine. It's hard to break out of the traditional mold. I know his parents are very religious and we are going to have a hell of a time explaining. They still think he is a good catholic.