I know of a couple, in their fifties now, who have been happily married for well over twenty years. The female of the couple is a Catholic, and the male is Jewish.
I know of another couple, married for only a few years now, who are also happy. This female is also Catholic, and the male is an atheist. Militant, well, sort of, actually.
My best friend is dating a vegan. He is, like most people, an omnivore. He recently got in a rather large fight with his girlfriend regarding the issue of eating meat and she almost left him because of it.
Now, I thought that was absurd, and cited the first two couples mentioend to demosntrate that fact. But today the thought struck me: is this reasonable? Which of the couples are reasonable?
I would not marry a single mother who beat her child by simply saying, “Well, I do not beat the child, and that is all that really matters.” I would not be friends with someone who owned a slave and tell myself, “So long as I do not have a slave, that is what is important.” And from what I understand the notion behind being a vegan is that using animals as a food source is inherently cruel. So why should I expect a vegan to tolerate my eating of meat? In what way would I consider that reasonable if I accepted their reasoning and/or assumptions? It would seem that they would be a hypocrite if they did anything else. Wouldn’t it?
But then I wonder, why should a Jew tolerate a Catholic? It seems unimaginable in the context of religious truth. Can we assume that they aren’t practicing their religion if they live together?
In my mind, it seems, all three couples cannot be “reasonable” simultaneously. Are they?