2. What is it?
Marriage between partners professing different
religions
How is this marriage commonly performed?
Most commonly contracted as civil marriage
How is this changing?
As interfaith marriage occurs more frequently and is
accepted, more are being performed as a religious
marriage.
Interfaith marriage
3. According to Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights men and woman who have attained the age
of majority have the right to marry “without any limitation
due to race, nationality or religion”
Some Christian denominations forbid interfaith marriages,
citing Corinthians 6:14 and Deuteronomy 7:3 (Old
Testament)
Paul advised the Christians at Corinth to avoid entering
significant relationships, such as marriage, with
unbelievers.
Interfaith marriage
4. There is no mention of Jesus talking about interfaith
marriages in specific.
But Paul did mention with the emphasis on spiritual life:
What does it mean to be unequally yoked? Is it right for a
Christian to date or marry a non-Christian?
Proverbs 4:23 --> Above all else, guard thy heart; for out of
it flows the issues of life.
Interfaith marriage
5. Forty-two percent of marriages in the U.S. are
interfaith ones. Marriages between people of two
different religions are becoming more common in
every area of the country, and for men and women
regardless of educational status or income level.
(All stats taken from Naomi Schaefer Got Religion?:
How Churches, Mosques, and Synagogues Can Bring
Young People Back" Templeton Press (May 20, 2014).
Interfaith marriage
6. Couples in interfaith marriages are, on average, less
happy than same-faith ones. In certain faith-
combinations they are more likely to divorce. While
roughly a third of all evangelicals’ marriages end up in
divorce, that climbs to nearly half for marriages
between evangelicals and non-evangelicals. It is
especially high for evangelicals married to someone
with no religion--61%.
Interfaith marriage
7. Jews are the most likely to marry out and Mormons
are the least likely. Muslims, Catholics and Protestants
fall somewhere in the middle. As many as 1 in 5
Muslims marries someone of another faith. This
seems to be a major driver of the assimilation of
American Muslims.
Interfaith marriage
8. Children of interfaith couples are more than twice as
likely to adopt the faith of their mother as the faith of
their father. This is not surprising when you think
about it. In America, anyway, mothers are typically
the ones in charge of family religious practice--they
are more likely to attend church, read the Bible and
shuttle children to religious school.
Interfaith marriage
9. A quarter of couples in same-faith marriages actually
started off in different faith ones. This suggests not
only that religion in America is remarkably fluid, but
also that spouses can have a powerful influence over
one's spiritual choices.
Interfaith marriage
10. The older you are, the more likely you are to marry outside
of the faith--67% of people who marry between 36 and 45
are in interfaith marriages. As we put off marriage, the
time between when we leave our parents home and start
our own families grows, and so often does our time away
from religious institutions and practice.
By the time we settle down we may not think of ourselves
as particularly religious anymore and we may not consider
faith much of an issue in picking a partner.
Interfaith marriage
11. Marrying someone of another faith makes you more likely
to have a positive impression of that faith as a whole. And
it's not just the couple themselves that is affected.
Other researchers have found that any kind of contact
Americans have with someone of another faith is likely to
lead to warmer feelings toward that faith. And so the
contact that occurs through an extended family
connection is also likely to have this effect.
Interfaith marriage
