A 37-year-old man has explained how his atheist views led to thedisintegration of his marriage.

The man identified asWilliam* told of how he and his wife decided to go their separate ways after she miscarried their unborn child when the two were in graduate school.

While his wife wasraised in the Assembly of God church and led a devout life, William's religious beliefshadalways beenmore ambivalent, he explained in a series entitled Craigslist Confessional, whereby writer HelenaBaladocuments thestoriesof strangers whom she has met on the USwebsiteCraigslist.Thisdichotomy had never beena problem untilhis wife miscarried their unborn child, he said.

"My wife and I met while we were both away at school, and I knew about her faith but she was never so religious that I thought, 'wow, youre weird.'" (iStock)

William said that after the miscarriage, "well-meaning people" would tell him that "God wanted another angel in heaven,'and Id nod and say 'thank you'but silently, I was livid." He added thatthe idea that there could bea deity that could possibly take someones unborn child from them was "abhorrent.

In the post, which was published by Quartz, William explained how he felt his wifes strict beliefs which included no sex before marriage inhibited their relationship rightfrom the very beginning.

He confessed that "sex barely happened" and that his wife considered it to be purely a means to reproduce.Romance was never on the cards, he explained."Say we were driving someplace and I tried to run my hand through her hairshed swat it away immediately."

Whilst understanding the scientific process behind miscarriages helped William through the terrible tragedy, for his wife it only perpetuated a deeper, more spiritual compulsion.Williamexplained this is what ultimately led him to realise that he was an atheist.

It was only a matter of time until their differing beliefsbeganto chip away at their relationship.

She told me once, 'I dont want to be one of those women who goes to church without her husband.'And we kept on like before, never really talking about God until, around Easter a few years ago, we were getting ready to go to church and I made some offhand comment. My wife asked something along the lines of'why are you always bad-mouthing God?'"

"Thats when I came out as an atheist. I told her, 'because I dont believe'," he said.

He described her response as"a full-blown meltdown" with his wife later telling her mother that William would be going to hell.

William tried to rectify things with his wife by avoiding the topic of religion in day-to-day conversation.

To avoid delicate issues, we stuck to talking about pop culture, TV, kids, and places we wanted to hike."

But despite his best efforts, things worsened and she ended up asking William for a divorce.

The two have since separated and Williams wife is now engaged to someone else. He added that she seems "genuinely happy" and although he thought the relationship would "never" work, her fiancis "exactly the type of guy she was supposed to end up with."

According to a recent surveyofBritish Social Attitudes, atheism in theUK is on the rise, with 48.5 per cent of the population define themselves as havingno religion, subsequently outweighing the 43.8 per cent who identify as Christians, Anglicans and Catholics.

*Names have been changed

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Man reveals how atheism ruined his marriage - The Independent