With all the reports on Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s divorce taking over every gossip headline, there is one theme that seems present in every article, Scientology. Tom has been a large proponent of Scientology and in the beginning of their marriage it seemed as if Katie also embraced the religion. In a June 2005 article Katie confirmed she was converting and Tom says “Yeah, absolutely. She digs it.” when asked about her conversion. After the interview with W magazine, news of the odd interview leaked. Apparently, Holmes was chaperoned by a Scientology representative who fed her lines and approved everything she said. In this interview Holmes gushed about Tom and said that the reports that she was being controlled were unfounded, saying, “That’s really ludicrous because, I mean, you have to know Tom. He is the most loving, generous man who… first of all, he wants to help people. He doesn’t put pressure on people. He is the kindest, smartest, most adoring man. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to be with him.”

Holmes, who grew up Catholic, recently gave the proverbial middle finger to The Church of Scientology by formally registering as a parishioner of the Church of St. Francis Xavier in New York City. So this leads to the question: Was Scientology a big sticking point in their marriage? Sources close to Holmes say she realized she didn’t want her daughter brought up in the religion and the church was one of the main reasons for the divorce.

Religion can cause huge issues in a marriage, especially when both parties go into parenting agreeing on raising a child a certain way and in a particular religion and then one spouse decides that religion is no longer right for them. This issue is something I have often thought about and weighed heavily in my mind. As I have mentioned on my blog before, I grew up Mormon and married a Mormon man in the Temple, a sacred house of the Lord. The first six years of our marriage we both faithfully attended and raised our then two children in the church. In 2010 after the Prop 8 debacle I began to really question my faith and was ready to leave. In all honesty I was terrified to broach the subject with my husband, I had agreed to raise my children in the church and was scared that if I admitted my doubts, my marriage would soon fall apart. Luckily after some frank conversations with my loving husband we both reached the same conclusions and decided to leave the church. I often wonder though how my life would be different today if he had wanted to remain an active participant.

Would you leave your spouse over a religious difference?

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Source: everydayfamily.com