Religion.

It is common knowledge religion is a touchy subject.  Whatever you believe, you want it to be accepted by others.  You also want to be correct.  This can cause a lot of problems in relationships if the two person’s belief systems do not match up.  Whose religion will you adopt as a couple?  What will you do with hypothetical children?  Stress. full.  If you’re single, you don’t have to worry about this.  I don’t know about other traditions, but in Christianity, being with someone who has the right views is of top priority.  Obviously Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and everyone else is just wrong.  If you stay single, you don’t have to worry about people who don’t agree with this fact.  There’s no risk about falling for someone who is still a good person but doesn’t exactly believe what you’ve been told he should.  You also don’t have to worry about discovering your soul mate is going to hell.  Yeah it happens, good people get damned.  Some people argue there are lots of translations and interpretations of the Bible, and the fact that only men wrote it poses a problem.  I call that Hippie Bull.  I’ve got to make sure I remain in eternity with my husband, so he better have said all the right prayers and sung the right songs.  I don’t want my household on opposite sides of the war on Christmas; I’ve got bigger things to worry about like using guilt to make my kids behave, either with Santa Claus or fundamentalism.

But in all seriousness, I get it.  It is way easier for me to be a pluralist, Christian universalist, ordain-everyone-who-feels-called, Presbyterian (USA!) while on my own. Then again, religion is one of my favorite topics of conversation, and I love getting to know what others believe.  I’ll just have to find someone who thinks so too.