Inter-Religious And Inter-Racial Marriages - Essay Example

With the changing times, we are getting more and more liberal in our acceptance of our fellow human beings, based on their personal qualities. Inter-religious and inter-racial marriages are gaining acceptance and are becoming common. However, in order to succeed, any marriage requires two people who respect each other, who are responsible, honest with each other and sincere when they meet in matrimony. Respect for each other is paramount, especially so in the case of inter - religion marriage. (Meera Chowdhry, 2000, Family Matters, Inter - Religion Marriage, www.boloji.com). Marriage is a partnership between two members of the opposite sex. The usual roles and responsibilities of the husband and wife include living together, having sexual relations only with one another, sharing economic resources and being recognized as the parents of their children. The Bella Online's marriage editor Ms Kristen Houghton's, opinion about marriage is that the institution of marriage encompasses in its ambit numerous factors. The main factor affecting marriage is Religion. A person's religious or spiritual beliefs should be either the same or at least congenial to that of one's spouse. This is so because a person's religious beliefs are an integral part of a person and if there is a difference of religious opinions, then the marriage may be affected adversely. (http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art27452.asp, n. d. ) Meera Chowdhry, 2000, Family Matters, Inter - Religion Marriage, www.boloji.com states that, "Religion is a way of life. We by the virtue of being born in a certain religious backdrop learn to follow a way of praying or accepting God as Christ or Krishna and so forth. Thus following the teachings, I do not see the teachings of Krishna any different from that of Christ. How does it matter then which religion is older It is more important to have a harmonious relationship with one's spouse." The author is saying that religion is usually determined by the family into which one is born. Further, there is not much disparity between different religions. The main import is to follow the teachings of the religion, which one follows. From the perspective of marriage, it is much more important for the husband and wife to have mutual understanding and respect for each other than to concentrate on the differences in the personal religion that they follow. From the foregoing, we can conclude that happiness in marriage is more dependent on mutual understanding and mutual respect than it is on religion. It is the belief of many people that introducing two contradictory beliefs into a marriage is inviting marital strife, which could increase the rate of divorce. Further, many people also believe that having parents of two different religions causing psychological stress on the offspring as they are often effectively forced to choose one parent over the other. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interreligious_marri ge, n.d). A person professing a different faith is considered inferior and ineligible from the point of view of matrimony (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interreligious_marriage, n.d.).Having the same, religious and spiritual beliefs are part of the essential criteria, for many people seeking a partner in marriage. Many people feel strongly that the person they are going to marry should be of the same religion, have the same traditions and customs and the same intensity of belief in God as they themselves do. For most people this is an integral part of their idea of marriage. However, there are still others who marry someone who belongs to a different religion. Such people have to overcome opposition from their families on entering a matrimonial alliance of this type. Despite all this, if true love prevails in the relation between husband and wife, then such trifles as which spouse's religion is superior or inferior will be relegated to the background. This statement is based on common experience. The offspring born to such couples will learn to respect religion irrespective of the particular type it is. Many people are of the opinion that, having a spouse from the same religion strengthens their faith and allows them to become more effective in their beliefs. In the Kristen Houghton - Marriage, Bella online.com interviews of couples who were of the same religion it was observed that religion was an important issue for such couples. These couples had strong feelings about their religion. Dan a husband in one such marriage, stated in this interview as follows: ''I actively sought some one who was Jewish, because I knew I wanted children and I wanted them raised in traditional kosher home. My faith has been always an important point of my life from childhood to being an adult. It has given me a strong sense of who I am. I wanted a woman who felt the same sense of self, as I did, in her religion.'' Raising children is easier and more effective if the parents have the same religious beliefs. This is because children are highly impressionable and are apt to believe that their parents are infallible. When children find that their parents hold different beliefs then they start feeling insecure as children expect consistency in the actions, words and beliefs held sacred by their parents. Marriage within the same religion causes less friction in the relationship. Having the same, religious beliefs are mandatory for many persons seeking a marriage partner. Many people feel strongly that their spouse should belong to the very same religion that they do, have the same traditions and customs, and intensity of belief as they themselves do. For such people this constitutes the most important factor in marriage. It is generally observed that most Muslims take great pains to ensure that members of their community marry Muslims only. For some people religion and culture present a barrier to their social interaction in the sense that free mingling of members of the opposite sex is discouraged. The article Interreligious marriage in the website Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.htm states that - "1. Many religions view their rules on marriage as commandments from God. 2. Some religions view themselves as a priestly people, with a specific mission to carry out. 3. Many religions allow their adherents to marry someone from outside of their faith if the partner converts. 4. Many people believe that introducing two contradictory belief systems into a marriage is grounds for marital strife, and increases the rate of divorce. 5. Many people believe that having parents of two opposing religions causes psychological stress on the children in such a marriage, as they often are effectively forced to choose one parent over another. 6. Religious intolerance. A person professing a different faith is considered inferior and not worth marrying. 7. The possibility of temptation to "wrong" practices by the "outsider" spouse, as well as the possibility of the children growing up in the "other" faith, or torn between two faiths. " Couples belonging to the same cultural or religious background generally experienced very few future problems in their married life, because of the lack of disparity in their beliefs and cultural propensities. In general, such marriages were less prone to divorces. In some instances of inter - religious marriages, intense love for each other had prevented these marriages from dissolution and the differences in religious views and beliefs were relegated to the background. Additionally we have the case of couples who are willing to accept the opinions of other religions and who believe in permitting their children to choose the religion of their choice. The 1924 Act - "An act to preserve racial integrity" banned inter-racial marriages. Based on this act Loving was convicted and sentenced to a jail term of one year by The State of Virginia's Court. This draconian and racial in nature judgement was upheld by the Virginia's Supreme Court of Appeals. However, The Supreme Court of the United States of America, in their pioneering decision reversed this decision in what is now known as the case of Loving vs. State of Virginia - 1958. In this landmark judgement, The Supreme Court of the United States of America opined that the constitution of the U.S prohibits its Member States from barring inter-racial marriages. Thus from the 12th of June 1967, inter-racial marriages are legal in all the states of the U.S. (Nacy John Alouise, Interracial Marriages and the Effects on Children, The University of Dayton School of Law, Spring 1998.) In 1991, a Gallup poll found that for the first time, more people in the U.S approved of inter - racial marriages (48%) than disapproved (42%) the remaining 10% were undecided. Further, a Gallup poll indicated that the acceptance of such marriages is on the increase. 61% of American Whites are more likely to approve such marriages today, in comparison to a mere 4 % in 1958. In the year 1970 there were 1, 50,000 of such couples. In the year 1994, this number has drastically increased to 1.1 million couples. Correspondingly, the number of children born of such marriages increased from 4, 60,300 in 1970 to 1.9 million in 1994. (Nacy John Alouise, Interracial Marriages and the Effects on Children.) Statistics furnished by the U.S. Census Bureau state that 1 in 50 marriages is inter - racial, this is a quadrupling of the number of such marriages which took place in the 1970s'. The requirement of modern society is that a child needs to be totally prepared to face racism in any form. Categorization and racism pose a problem to the bi - racial child. Such children face the threat of having to envisage an identity crisis brought on by the two racial groups that are defined very differently in the category system of American Racism. (Paul C. Rosenblatt, Terri A. Karis, & Richard D. Powell, Children,Multiracial Couples, (1995)). People belonging to different cultures and religions, usually belong to different Geographical Locations and their places of pilgrimage are different. When such couples are deeply religious then they will be touring different places to fulfil their desire for pilgrimage and their desire to see the places, which have a nostalgic value. Yamaguchi Furukawa of Tokyo married Sania Vittori of Rome. Yamaguchi is a Buddhist and Sania is a Roman Catholic, they live in Singapore, where Yamaguchi works as a computer programmer. During Christmas, they visit Rome and during the celebrations of Buddha's Birthday, they visit Japan. Naming of children will also be typical, one child may be Isaac whilst another may be Peter and a third may be Ahmed. Sometimes a combination of names pertaining to different religions may also occur, for example Michael Madhusudan the famous Bengali Poet of the 19th Century. As an example, a Jewish father married a Christian mother, and this created a potentially confusing activity for their child inasmuch as which place of worship the child was to visit. One parent may insist that the child frequent the church whilst the other may insist that the child visit the Synagogue. As a compromise, the child may be made to visit these places alternately. Tackling a tricky situation successfully will depend on the sagacity, understanding and wisdom of the parents. However, it should be the endeavour of the parents to inculcate the best of the values of their respective religions and cultures in their children and to create a sense of appreciation for their religions in them. In fact, such couples before entering wedlock should have a very clear and frank discussion as to the role and importance that they are willing to ascribe to religion. A consensus should be reached at this very stage itself. In case one of the partners to the marriage wishes to convert to the religion of the other partner, then such a decision should be treated with respect and love. The conversion should be done in the presence of the appropriate religious preacher. Marriage encompasses many important factors like mutual trust, mutual respect, love, respect for each other's beliefs, etc. Religion is one such important factor, because religious beliefs are a very important facet of an individual, religion encourages marriage and attempts to keep married people married. Marriage is by definition a life - long relationship. The example Indian Marriages can be considered as an example; people attach great importance to this idea of a life - long relationship. Great importance is attached to the idea of the spouse being a life - long partner to the extent that a widow or widower in this society will usually prefer to live the rest of his or her life alone rather than remarry. Marriage is a state institution and not a religious one. A religious imprimatur gives a state institution additional legitimacy. Religion encourages marriage and discourages divorce. Religion complicates marriage most of the time. Marriage is largely an economic as well as sexual partnership. The main products of the marital partnership are children. The adhesive force that holds together society is marriage. Marriage brings about population replacement and unification of families. (http://members.aol.com/johnpsmith/marriage) Even though Orthodox Judaism does not sanction inter - religious marriages, The Holy Bible mentions numerous instances of the same amongst the Hebrews. The first such instance is that of Moses. Generations later the sons of Naomi married Ruth the Moabite and her sister. Ruth was converted to Judaism prior to her marriage to Boaz. (Interreligious marriage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.htm) The biblical character most frequently quoted as an example of such marriages is Solomon; he is reputed to have had 700 wives. Many of these women, were non - believers and were in the habit of trying to lure Solomon to participate in their Pagan Ways. (The Holy Bible, 1 Kings 1-11 and 2 Chronicles 1-9). The teachings of different religions on this question of inter - religious marriages are: 1. Christianity - Most denominations, forbid inter - religious marriages, however, in modern times the Catholic Church permits such marriages in certain cases. 2. Bahai's Faith - According to this faith all religions are inspired by God, therefore inter - religious marriage is permissible. 3. Hinduism - It permits inter - religious marriages. However, marriage is sacrosanct in the true sense of the word. In this religion, marriage is deemed a sacred covenant witnessed by God Almighty himself and is not just a legal contract. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interreligious_marriage, n. d.) In conclusion, we can state that for a better relationship both the spouses in an Interreligious marriage should respect each other's individuality, religious faith, beliefs and preferences in order to make their marriage successful. This shows that there is little if any prohibition of Interreligious marriages. From time immemorial Interreligious, marriages have been in vogue. As such, religion accepts and endorses Interreligious marriage. The main factor to be kept in mind is that religion is not a barrier to marriage in this modern world and if we learn to respect other's religions and leave them with their preferences, this world will be a happier place to live in. In an Interreligious marriage respect for each other is paramount, along with this a very important factor in such marriages (inter-religious) is the religion followed by the children born to such couples. Parents in an Interreligious marriage should give importance to teaching their children good values and good values are the basis of every religion. When, these children are old enough to decide, they should be allowed to choose the religion that they would like to follow. References. 1. Houghton, Kristen. Marriage Bella Online's Marriage Editor. 1. Chowdhry, Meera. Inter Religion Marriage, Family Matters. http://www.boloji.com/family 2. Interreligious marriage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.htm 3. Nacy John Alouise, Interracial Marriages and the Effects on Children, The University of Dayton School of Law, Spring 1998. 4. Paul C. Rosenblatt, Terri A. Karis, & Richard D. Powell, Children,Multiracial Couples (1995). 5. http://members.aol.com/johnpsmith/marriage 6. The Holy Bible, 1 Kings 1-11 and 2 Chronicles 1-9. Bibliography. 1. The Holy Bible. 2. Houghton, Kristen. Marriage Bella Online's Marriage Editor. 3. Interreligious marriage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.htm 4. Nacy John Alouise, Interracial Marriages and the Effects on Children, The University of Dayton School of Law, Spring 1998. 5. Paul C. Rosenblatt, Terri A. Karis, & Richard D. Powell, Children,Multiracial Couples (1995). 6. http://members.aol.com/johnpsmith/marriage 7. Chowdhry, Meera. 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