Inter-Religious And Inter-Racial Marriages Essay

Inter-Religious And Inter-Racial Marriages - Essay Example 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 experienc e. The offspring born to such couples will learn to respect religion irrespective of the particular