'My husband has become religious and it's flipped our relationship upside down'

28 May 2024 , 14:59

1229     0

What would you do if your partner had a religious epiphany? (stock image) (Image: Getty Images/Tetra images RF)

A woman says her husband's new-found religion has had a devastating effect on their sex life.

The 34-year-old confessed she is struggling to adhere to her spouse's beliefs after he decided to convert to Catholicism almost 11 years into their marriage. Being pagan herself, she claimed religion itself is not the problem, but said she couldn't help but feel hurt by its sudden impact on their relationship.

"My husband has recently decided to go back to the Catholic Church after being away his entire adult life," she said anonymously on Reddit. "With his re-joining the church, it has triggered his OCD and he has become very scrupulous.

"Last night he dropped the bomb on me that he no longer believes that we can be sexually intimate unless it leads to penis-in-vagina (PIV) sex as a result."

The unexpected news meant her husband is apparently no longer keen on any sort of foreplay, even though it is very important to her. The story continued: "All of this comes directly after I told him I needed more intimacy that wasn't sex, because he also suffers from premature ejaculation... I’m left frustrated and unfulfilled."

Jermain Defoe sparks marriage split fear after spending Christmas away from wife

She said her partner is unwilling to compromise and their marriage is "teetering on the edge of divorce." "It’s going to destroy the lives of our children," she continued.

"I have tried telling him that it is completely unfair to impose his religious restrictions on me like this. He will not budge, because in his eyes, that is sinning....Help me Reddit."

Fellow users rushed to comment on the issue. One person wrote: "Divorce will not ruin the lives of your children. Staying in a toxic marriage will."

Another added: "You can try counselling (not through his church obviously). But if he won’t go, divorce seems like the only option – not only because of the sexual issues, but because you’re going to be too far apart on many issues."

Interestingly, a third wrote: "Right, like, speaking as a former Catholic: he is ABSOLUTELY allowed to make you orgasm as long as he also gets that 15 seconds of PIV. He's lying about what the Church teaches for his own problematic reasons."

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below

Lauren Haughey