Reply #24: Sounds like some 3rd party is influencing your wife [View All]

[Divernan]

Her minister, church-going friends or parents? I think your first step is to sit down with her and find out why she has changed her mind NOW. She accepted your beliefs before; the burden is on her to explain changing the terms of your marital agreement now. You guys are really so young - only 19 or so when you got together and had the pre-marriage discussion? One of the main reasons marriages of younger people fail is that they really haven't finished "growing up", ie forming their opinions & values - it's a function of life experience/learning over time. And as they continue growing and maturing, they may grow apart. Sound to me like your wife is quite dependent on her church - and that it is more important to her than you are.

I bet someone is using your child as leverage on her - that she would be a bad parent to let her child grow up outside their particular church, and that an atheist parent is a BAD influence in the home.

If she is a member of a mega church, and you are the prime bread winner in the family, the pastor/business manager rightly understands that if they want to get their grubby paws on 10 percent of the family income, they have to bring you into the fold. Hallelujah!