Interfaith marriage
Interfaith marriage, sometimes called interreligious marriage or "mixed marriage", is marriage between spouses professing different religions. Although interfaith marriages are often established as civil marriages, in some instances they may be established as a religious marriage. This depends on religious doctrine of each of the two parties' religions; some prohibit interfaith marriage, and among others there are varying degrees of permissibility.
Several major religions are mute on the issue, and still others allow it with requirements for ceremony and custom. For ethno-religious groups, resistance to interfaith marriage may be a form of self-segregation.
In an interfaith marriage, each partner typically adheres to their own religion. One issue which can arise in such unions is the choice of faith in which to raise the children.
Legal status[edit]
Human right[edit]
According to Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, men and women who have attained the age of majority have the right to marry "without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion".[1] Although most of Article 16 is incorporated verbatim in Article 23 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the references to religious and racial limitations is omitted.[2] Article 17, clause two, of the American Convention on Human Rights says that all men and women have the right to marry, subject to the conditions of domestic law "insofar as such conditions do not affect the principle of nondiscrimination established in this Convention."[3]
United States[edit]
According to the Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study, interfaith marriage has become increasingly common in the United States during the past decades. While of marriages performed before 1960, 81% of marriages were between spouses from the same religious denomination, 11% were between spouses of different Christian denominations, 5% were between a Christian and a religiously unaffiliated spouse, and 3% were other mixed forms of interfaith marriages, the corresponding figures for marriages performed in the period of 2010-2014 were 61%, 15%, 18% and 6%.[4] Interfaith marriages are least common among Hindus, Mormons and Muslims, and most common among religiously unaffiliated people, mainline Protestants and Jews.[5]
Joan Boocock Lee, an Episcopalian British American actress who was married to Jewish-American comic book creator Stan Lee until her death, stated that the couple faced difficulty adopting a child in the mid-20th century United States.[6]
By religion[edit]
Baháʼí Faith[edit]
According to the Baháʼí Faith, all religions are inspired by God and interfaith marriage is permitted. A Baháʼí ceremony should be performed with the non-Baháʼí rite (or ceremony). If both ceremonies are performed, the non-Baháʼí ceremony should not invalidate the Baháʼí ceremony; the Baháʼí partner remains a Baháʼí, and is not adopting the religion of the other partner in the ceremony. The Baháʼí partner should also abstain from vows (or statements) committing them to a declaration of faith in another religion or that are contrary to the principles of the Baháʼí Faith. The two ceremonies should be performed on the same day; their order is not important. The Baháʼí ceremony may be performed in the place of worship of the other religion if it is afforded respect equal to the non-Baháʼí ceremony and is clearly distinct from the non-Baháʼí ceremony.
In modern times various composers have written sacred music for use during interfaith marriage ceremonies including: