COMMENTARY | Forcing religious views on your spouse or children may not be a good idea. In the real world, if you marry someone with different religious ideas, it can spell disaster; if your spouse decides to become, say, a Scientologist, after the ceremony, it might cause a lot of future problems. In Hollywood, relationship problems multiply and the odds of a break up increase immensely.
The word is out that Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony may have split because of Lopez’s preference for Scientology. According to Zap2it, Jennifer’s father, David, is a Scientologist, and has been for over 20 years.
During an interview with The Daily Beast, Lopez was asked if she would consider enrolling their twins in a Scientology school. She responded:
“Yeah. I wouldn’t mind. Not at all. Because I know that the technologies that they have are very helpful — It’s all about communication. That’s the thing I really don’t like about talking about this. I do know so many great people who do do it, who choose it as a lifestyle and really follow it and it is their religion — I just wish that people wouldn’t judge it without knowing what it is.”
A source close to the couple told the U.K’s Daily Mall, “Jennifer and Marc couldn’t see eye-to-eye on the subject. She’s always been more into the church than him. He wasn’t a huge fan and it caused problems.”
Having gone through several relationships in my life, if there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there are two very important things you and your fiance’ should have in common before saying “I do.” You should have similar political beliefs, and the same thoughts on religion. Religion and politics say a lot about the person you are; if you don’t agree on these things, it will likely spell disaster.
Case in point: Last September, “Saturday Night Live’s” Fred Armisen and his wife Elizabeth Moss separated after less than a year of marriage. The reason for their divorce was said to be because of Moss’ Church of Scientology attachment. Her religion was more important than her husband.
Another famous couple that was said to split up because of the religion: Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise. Cruise has made it abundantly clear that he forced his wives to convert. Kidman was a Catholic before the wedding; as soon as they divorced, she dropped out of the Church of Scientology.
Kidman was also strongly opposed to raising their children as Scientologists, and their divorce turned into a nasty battle over the issue. She did not believe in the church’s unorthodox methods. Some of those methods include cutting ties to close relatives who are not part of the religion as well as not allowing parental nurturing or comfort. Members are also discouraged from treating children with conventional medicine.
Couples who have different religions may not run into trouble until they have children. They might be able to ignore the issue until then, but once children are a part of the picture, divorce is often all too imminent.