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Inter-faith marriage

Green Gaia

Veteran Member
What is your religion's position on inter-faith marriage? Is it just discouraged but accepted? No big deal? A big no-no? What happens if a person marrys someone of another faith?
 

Runt

Well-Known Member
Haha, Unitarian Universalist inner-faith marriage... it is almost a given, since even WITHIN the UU faith most people follow various different religious paths. And, of course, there is no prohibition against marrying outside of the UU faith. Nobody would even think oddly of it...
 
I was raised Catholic and married a man who was raised Southern Baptist. I have never been a strict Catholic and have always been tolerant of other people's beliefs so marrying outside my religion was not an issue as long as my husband and I agreed on the basic moral values that were important to us.

Unfortunately, the Catholic Church didn't quite see it that way.......As a result, we were denied a Catholic wedding and went with a non-denominational minister. We've been married for 19 yrs. and still going strong. The only effects that our inter-faith marriage has had on us is that I no longer practice Catholicism and I decided not to raise my daughter Catholic. I have no regrets regarding either of those decisions.
 

Rex

Founder
civilcynic said:
I was raised Catholic and married a man who was raised Southern Baptist. I have never been a strict Catholic and have always been tolerant of other people's beliefs so marrying outside my religion was not an issue as long as my husband and I agreed on the basic moral values that were important to us.

Unfortunately, the Catholic Church didn't quite see it that way.......As a result, we were denied a Catholic wedding and went with a non-denominational minister. We've been married for 19 yrs. and still going strong. The only effects that our inter-faith marriage has had on us is that I no longer practice Catholicism and I decided not to raise my daughter Catholic. I have no regrets regarding either of those decisions.
In a Catholic session don't the wife/husband have to go the church for classes for like 9 weeks before the marriage or something?
 
We never even got that far....lol....The priest was more concerned with how would would raise children than he was about whether my husband and I would be compatible or whether our marriage would be successful.
 

Ceridwen018

Well-Known Member
Yeah, Catholics are weird like that. It's funny how they have celibate preists teaching marriage classes...go figure. All I know is that my parents (being Catholic) were required by the church to attend classes, and they obviously haven't done them a bit of good. Marriage needs to be based on love, not god, otherwise it'll go down the pipes faster than you can say 'Amen'. That's what they're missing here.

My family has a very long-running Irish Catholic heritage. My grandpa was one of 10 kids, and when his only sister married a Presbyterian, no one, and I mean no one from her side of the family came.

They've evolved a good deal since then which is good. My cousin married a Non-Denominational man a while back and no one stuck their nose up at her. She even got married in a Catholic church...it really just depends on how lenient the preist is I think. Her preist was hilarious--She was married during Lent, and at the rehersal dinner they served lasagna with meat and veggie lasagna, because there were Catholics and Non-Denom's. The preist helped himself to a huge plate of the meat lasagna, with a matter-of-fact explanation of "Oh, I don't really believe in all that 'no meat' stuff". I thought my grandpa was going to have a heart attack! Personally I couldn't stop laughing!
 

Ardhanariswar

I'm back!
gosh, i always wanted to get married to another hindu. it really doesnt matter. i mean, i want to get married to a guy that awknoledges that God exists and loves us. i wont marry a christian, because i would constantly argue. A jewish guy would sound interesting. but i dont care.

well i got other things to worry about. my parents would probably force me to marry a hindu, someone from my caste, and a girl.

i want to have a gay hindu marriage. i wonder if a priest will actually do that. hmm. oh well. whatever.
 
LOL a gay hindu marriage! Ah that made me laugh. About interfaith marriage, I think the problem begins if at least 1 of the persons in the couple is religious, devout. If their religion means the world to them I actually doubt they would even marry outside of it, but it depends. As you can see, non religious persons who hold the name of a particular religion seems to get along fine. I think it's too confusing for the children personally. I wouldn't marry outside of my religion nor am I allowed. However, if I wasn't very religious maybe I"d go about marrying a christian man who wasn't religious or whatever. Again, the issue arises when someone in the relationship is devout to his/her beliefs.
 

BruceDLimber

Well-Known Member
Hi!

As the primary goal of the Baha'i Faith is to promote unity, mixed marriages are welcomed.

And indeed, interracial marriages are also most welcome (and we Bahai's have them in numbers far, far exceeding the statistical norms)!

Good stuff. :)

Bruce
 

Silvanus

Member
I don't think the Paulicians would have cared if they got married to someone from a different religion, as long as that person wasn't against the Paulician movement. They certainly intermarried with Muslims alot, cuz they were such strong allies.

The meaning of marriage to my religion had more to do with a loving committment to one another than simply staying within one's faith and raising a family according "to the rules"....
 

BUDDY

User of Aspercreme
Actually, I attend the Church of Christ and they range from ultra scary conservative, to rather liberal. On one side, they will tell you that marriages of mixed faiths are dangerous for everyone involved, especially if you have kids. The other side says that God cares more about the relationship being one based on love than anything else. I tend to fall somewhere in the middle. I do think that the relationship has to be based on love, but I also think that the marriage relationship is one of teamwork and having the same life goals is critical to an effective team.

 
I don't think Quakers have a problem with it. I know at the liberal end of Quakerism, it doesn't matter at all and there are no second thoughts, and I think the conservative end is the same. There are so few Quakers, that it would be really hard to find someone, but of course, that's not the reasoning behind it.
 

CaptainXeroid

Following Christ
Our faith doesn't have an official position, but in pre-marital counseling, our minister advises couples that faith is often the rock on which a marriage is built. His experience is that inter-faith marriages that work out are the exception, not the rule. My observation of friends and family over the years yields a similar conclusion.
 

Engyo

Prince of Dorkness!
Maize said:
What is your religion's position on inter-faith marriage? Is it just discouraged but accepted? No big deal? A big no-no? What happens if a person marrys someone of another faith?
For a Buddhist this isn't a problem, unless the person of another faith chooses to make an issue of it.
 

jewscout

Religious Zionist
for jews, more often than not, an inter-faith marriage is often the deathnell of any jewish identity for the children...more importantly if the mother is a non-jew the children won't usually be considered jewish by halachic standards
Rachel's sister is facing this issue now...she wants to marry some guy who refuses to consider conversion
 

johnnys4life

Pro-life Mommy
If you were married to them before you converted, you are supposed to stay with them unless they want to leave you. If you are already converted, you are not supposed to marry a person who is not "of the faith".
 

may

Well-Known Member
For various reasons many married couples today are religiously divided. Some individuals may have chosen a mate who belongs to a different religion. But many couples started out sharing a common faith and later became religiously divided when one mate adopted another form of worship. There may be other circumstances that bring about religious division in the family. Notwithstanding the causes, however, the marriage vows are not to be broken or belittled simply because mates disagree on the choice of religion. The Bible honors the sanctity and permanence of marriage, even when the mates are not united in worship. (1 Peter 3:1, 2) The apostle Paul wrote: "If any brother has an unbelieving wife, and yet she is agreeable to dwelling with him, let him not leave her." (1 Corinthians 7:12) If applied, the principles found in the Bible can help any married couple to enjoy peace in a loving and respectful relationship.—Ephesians 5:28-33; Colossians 3:12-14; Titus 2:4, 5; 1 Peter 3:7-9

 

Green Gaia

Veteran Member
EEWRED said:
Actually, I attend the Church of Christ and they range from ultra scary conservative
That's the kind of church I grew up in. Not only did they forbid inter-faith marriages, but bi-racial marriages too.
 
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