Intermarriage
Intermarriage is the marriage between two people of different backgrounds. This background can be either religious (such as a Christian marrying a Jew) or racial (such as an Asian person marrying a person of African descent). Views towards each type of intermarriage have evolved throughout history, although each remains controversial in certain sects of modern society.
Overview
Intermarriage is the marriage of people from two different religious or racial backgrounds. Participants in intermarriage have faced social difficulties throughout history for various reasons including prejudice, ignorance, and xenophobia. Those whose marriages involve different races suffer racial discrimination, if not rejection by societies in which miscegenation (the mixing of races) was illegal. Those who marry from a different religious tradition also may face rejection, especially if one of the traditions teaches that only those faithful to their beliefs receive salvation and can go to heaven; all others condemned to eternal hell.
Intermarriage is a form of exogamy, or marrying outside of one's social group. With increasing contact between different peoples of the planet, relationships and marriages that cross racial and religious boundaries have become more common. However, couples and the children of intermarriage face issues of social isolation and lack of definitive cultural identity.
Interreligious Marriage
Religion is a difficult subject to broach for romantically involved couples. Crossing religious lines for the sake of marriage was once, and still is considered by some, to be an act of apostasy. The traditional view of promoting marriage within religion stems from the fact that religion has traditionally dominated one's culture and social life, so to wed someone outside of this group would be wholly alien. There are still many reasons why religion acts as a barrier to marriage:
- Some religions view their rules on marriage as commandments from God.
- A few religions view themselves as a priestly people, with a specific mission to carry out.
- Some people believe that introducing two contradictory belief systems into a marriage is grounds for marital strife, and increases the rate of divorce.
- Some 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's faith over another.
- Religious intolerance leads some to believe that a person professing a different faith is considered incompatible and not worth marrying.
- 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.
- Some religions, such as the Druze religion, are closed communities and do not accept new members, whether through marriage or through conversion.
When a man and a woman professing different religions want to marry, and the religious laws of the faith upheld by one of them forbid this, they might:
- abandon the relationship and seek a partner of their own faith,
- consider the Conversion of one spouse,
- live as if married with no ceremony,
- have a purely civil marriage ceremony, or
- if one of the two religions does allow interreligious marriage, hold the wedding according to the ritual of the accepting religion.
These opinions are shifting, however. Increased foreign travel and a trend towards secularism have de-emphasized the importance of religion in the lives of many. Many see intermarriage as a good opportunity for diversity and are in fact attracted to others specifically because they are not members of their own religious sect. These outsiders are alluring either out of sheer taste for the exotic or because the person is tired of their own culture and wants to experience something different. Attitudes towards inter-religious marriage are becoming more liberal in the developed world, removing the once powerful stigma that may have suppressed inter-religious marriages in the past.
Views of religions on interreligious marriage
Judaism
Intermarriage in Judaism is informed by two basics of Jewish law. First, the child of a Jewish female is considered to be Jewish, regardless of the faith of the father, while, historically, the child of a male Jew and a female non-Jew is not. Second, a Jewish marriage is, by definition, a contract between two Jews, involving a Ketubah or Jewish prenuptial agreement. This states that the husband commits to provide food, clothing, and marital relations to his wife, and that he will pay a specified sum of money if he divorces her. If he dies and leaves her as a widow, she can collect the Ketubah money from his estate. The Ketubah is considered an integral part of a Jewish marriage. Intermarriage under strict Jewish law is therefore not only forbidden, but actually impossible. Questions of civil intermarriage arise when rabbis are asked to officiate at civil marriage ceremonies.
Orthodox Judaism strictly forbids interreligious marriage as well as any sexual intercourse with a member of a different faith. Secular intermarriage is seen as a deliberate rejection of Judaism, and an intermarried person is effectively cut off from most of the Orthodox community.
Conservative Judaism rejects intermarriages as being a violation of halakha (the collective corpus of Jewish religious law), and as causing severe demographic harm to the Jewish people. Conservative rabbis are not allowed to perform intermarriages. However, the Leadership Council of Conservative Judaism has a more nuance understanding of this issue than does Orthodoxy. The Conservative movement has stated:
In the past, intermarriage...was viewed as an act of rebellion, a rejection of Judaism. Jews who intermarried were essentially excommunicated. But now, intermarriage is often the result of living in an open society. If our children end up marrying non-Jews, we should not reject them. We should continue to give our love and by that retain a measure of influence in their lives, Jewish and otherwise. Life consists of constant growth and our adult children may yet reach a stage when Judaism has new meaning for them. However, the marriage between a Jew and non-Jew is not a celebration for the Jewish community. We therefore reach out to the couple with the hope that the non-Jewish partner will move closer to Judaism and ultimately choose to convert. Since we know that over seventy percent of children of intermarried couples are not being raised as Jews...we want to encourage the Jewish partner to maintain his/her Jewish identity, and raise their children as Jews. (Leadership Council of Conservative Judaism, Statement on Intermarriage. Adopted on March 7, 1995)
Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism (known internationally as Progressive Judaism) discourage intermarriage, but, since they do not view halakha as binding, have no mechanism for legal prohibition of the practice in the manner of the Conservative and Orthodox movements. Progressive rabbinical associations have no blanket prohibition on their members officiating at intermarriages. As a result, some Progressive Rabbis do perform such weddings without fear of the sanction faced by their Conservative counterparts. Intermarried Progressive Jews are encouraged to raise their children in the Jewish faith, and to become part of the local Jewish community, even if the Gentile partner does not convert to Judaism. Gentile spouses of Jews are welcome in Progressive synagogues as long as they do not proselytise.
Christianity
Many Christians believe that anyone has the freedom to choose her or his partner for life, and that love has no boundaries. This attitude is found most often among those who may be identified as progressive or liberal Christians.
Some Christian denominations forbid interreligious marriage, drawing from 1 Corinthians 7 and 2 Corinthians 6:14, and in some cases Deuteronomy 7:3. The Mormon Church emphasizes the doctrine of "celestial marriage" in which two people are eternally bound through marriage. Mormons believe this celestial marriage can only occur between members of the Mormon church, and thus oppose interreligious marriage for their faithful.
The Catholic church requires permission for mixed marriages, which it terms all unions between Catholics and baptized non-Catholics, but such marriages are valid, though illicit, without it: the pastor of the Catholic party has authority to grant such permission. Marriages between a Catholic and an un-baptized person are not sacramental, and fall under the impediment of disparity of worship and are invalid without a dispensation, for which authority lies with the ordinary of the place of marriage.
Bahá'í Faith
According to the Bahá'í Faith, all religions are inspired by God, therefore interreligious marriage is allowed. In that case, the Bahá'í ceremony should be performed, and the non-Bahá'í rite or ceremony can also be performed. If it is the case that both ceremonies are performed, the non-Bahá'í ceremony should not invalidate the Bahá'í ceremony and it should be made clear to all that the Bahá'í partner is a Bahá'í and is not accepting the religion of the other partner by going through with the ceremony. The Bahá'í partner should also abstain from undertaking any vows or statements that commit the Bahá'í to any declaration of faith in another religion or that are contrary to the principles of the Bahá'í Faith. The two ceremonies should happen on the same day, but the order is not important. The Bahá'í ceremony may be performed in the place of worship of the other religion provided that it is given equal respect to that of the non-Bahá'í ceremony and is clearly distinct from the non-Bahá'í ceremony.
Hinduism
Hinduism declares that there are always innumerable paths to God, and that one’s belief or perception of God is an individual matter and best left to the individual to decide his own path.
Thus, Hindus have never hesitated to respect the freedom of other faiths to coexist and flourish and so interreligious marriages are accepted in Hindu society. It also does not put any obligation of faith on the non-Hindu partner. Inter-caste marriages were, however, problematic, but this too is becoming more acceptable with time. In metropolitan cities it is common to find couples with different faith, caste, and regional background. There are numerous laws in the Indian legal system, safeguarding interfaith marriage. Examples of such marriages occasionally appear in Rudyard Kipling's stories.
Islam
Islam only allows a man to marry a non-Muslim only if she is Christian or Jewish. The wife need not adopt any Muslim laws, and the husband is not allowed to keep her from going to church or synagogue. The early jurists of the most prominent schools of Islamic jurisprudence ruled in Fiqh law that the marriage of a Muslim man to a Christian or Jewish women is mukruh (reprehensible) if they live in a non-Muslim country. The Caliph Umar (634–644) denied interfaith marriage for Muslim men during his command of the ummah.
Fiqh also forbids Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men, although there is nothing in the Qur'an nor the Sunnah that explicitly prohibits such unions. Some Muslim scholars go so far as to state that such a marriage is an act of apostasy, but with the growing number of such marriages, this position is being questioned. In some Muslim countries, if a non-Muslim woman is married to a non-Muslim, and she converts to Islam, the marriage is suspended until her husband converts to Islam. When he converts a new marriage is not needed.
Interracial Marriage
Interracial marriage was once seen as grounds for shunning members of society. Xenophobia and outright racism bred close-minded laws and social mores against miscegenation. The taboo against interracial marriage has been largely lifted worldwide today as the world shrinks through easier travel and globalization. Love has proved incentive enough for many to overcome the barriers placed by a jealous old guard of those opposed to mixed marriages.
United States
In Social Trends in America and Strategic Approaches to the Negro Problem (1948), Gunnar Myrdal ranked the social areas where restrictions were imposed by Southern whites on the freedom of African-Americans through racial segregation from the least to the most important: jobs, courts and police, politics, basic public facilities, “social equality” including dancing, handshaking, and most important, marriage. This ranking scheme seems to explain the way in which the barriers against desegregation fell. Of less importance was the segregation in basic public facilities, which was abolished with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most tenacious form of legal segregation, the banning of interracial marriage, was not fully lifted until the last anti-miscegenation laws were struck down in 1967.[1]
Education and interracial marriage
Using data from both the 1980 and 1990 US Census to determine trends within interracial marriage among White Americans, African Americans, Hispanic or Latinos, and Asian Americans, it may be seen that endogamy (marrying within race) was more prevalent for African American men at lower education levels.
In 1980, the numbers were as follows: African American males without a high school diploma participated in endogamy at ninety-six point five percent; for those who received a high school diploma, ninety-five point six percent; for those with a college degree and above, the percentage of endogamy dropped to ninety-four percent. However, the rates for African American women changed very little with different educational levels. For the African American woman who had not received a high school diploma the rate was ninety-eight point seven percent, high school diploma was ninety-eight point six percent, with some college it was ninety-eight point two percent, and college degree or higher, ninety-eight point five percent. During this time there was a significant increase in marriages between whites and African Americans, maintaining that African Americans are most likely to marry whites over other groups.
The 1990 results show that rates of endogamy dropped for both males and females, albeit more for the African American male. In 1990, an African American male with a college degree and more was participating in endogamy at ninety-point four percent; for an African American female with the same educational level, ninety-six point four percent. The results for the propensity of individuals at higher educational attainment levels to participate less in endogamy over the 10-year period were similar across races, including whites, Hispanics, and Asian Americans.
Immigrants and interracial marriage
It is found that racial endogamy is much stronger for immigrants as compared to natives; it is 4.9 times more likely for African immigrants than for African Americans. Additionally, immigrants of African descent have the highest rates of endogamy of immigrants. Also, African immigrants are much more likely to marry other same-race immigrants and African Americans, than to out-marry racially. Native-born white Americans are also 1.6 times more likely to marry a native-born African American than an immigrant of African descent. Female immigrants of African descent are generally more likely to marry native-born whites than their male counterparts.
United Kingdom
As of 2001, two percent of all UK marriages were inter-ethnic. Despite having a much lower non-white population (nine percent), mixed marriages are as common as in the United States. For example, Black British men are significantly more likely to have non-black wives than African American men; eighteen percent of UK black African husbands, twenty-nine percent of UK black Caribbean husbands, and forty-eight percent of other Black British husbands have a wife from a different ethnic group.[2]
According to the UK 2001 census, Black British males were around fifty percent more likely than black females to marry outside their race, whereas British Chinese women were twice as likely as their male counterparts to marry someone from a different ethnic group. Among British Asians (South Asians, not including Chinese), Pakistani and Bangladeshi males were twice as likely to to have an inter-ethnic marriage than their female counterparts, while Indian and "Other Asian" males were more likely to have an inter-ethnic marriage than their female counterparts by a smaller percentage.
In Africa
Indian (Asian) men have married many African women in Africa. Indians have long been traders in East Africa. The British Empire brought workers into East Africa to build the Uganda Railway. Indians eventually populated South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Rhodesia, and Zaire. These interracial unions were mostly unilateral marriages between Indian men and East African women.[3]
In Asia
Many Asian cultures, such as China and Korea have indelibly strong familial ties, which have often emphasized marriages that will satisfy all of the members of the family. As a result of this tight family network, marriage to outsiders has been seen as taboo. In Japan, non-ethnic Japanese residents have been called outsiders (gaijin) and discriminated against in marriage and other relationships. This norm is changing as large Asian nations take their place in the world stage.
Intermarriage Today
Views towards inter-religious and interracial marriage have evolved considerably over time. What once was an un-thought of transgression against ones family and culture is now commonplace. Many argue that intermarriage has a beneficial effect in society by decreasing inter-religious and interracial tensions through the bonding of familial groups in marriage. Despite this, many mixed marriages still face persecution and discrimination by those un-accepting of their lifestyles.
Notes
- ↑ Loving v. Virginia University of Michigan. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
- ↑ National Statistics. Inter-ethnic Marriage. 2001. August 14, 2005. Inter-Ethnic Marriage: two percent of all marriages are inter-ethnic.
- ↑ Color Q World. Jotawa: Afro-Asians in East Africa. September 1, 2006.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Gardner, Leroy. White/Black Race Mixing: An Essay on the Stereotypes and Realities of Interracial Marriage, Paragon House Publishers (2001). ISBN 1557787964
- Kornbluth, Doron. 'Why Marry Jewish: Surprising Reasons for Jews to Marry Jews', [Targum/Feldheim], 2003, ISBN 1-56871250-2
- Root, Maria. Love's Revolution: Interracial Marriage, Temple University Press (2001). ISBN 1566398266
- Silverstein, Alan. It All Begins with a Date: Jewish Concerns about Intermarriage: Jewish Concerns about Intermarriage, Jason Aronson, 1995, ISBN 1-56821-542-8
- Yancey, George. Just Don't Marry One: Interracial Dating, Marriage, and Parenting, Judson Press (2003). ISBN 081701439X
External Links
- Catholic view of intermarriage from the Catholic Encyclopaedia Retrieved August 17, 2007.
- Jewish view of intermarrige from the Jewish Encyclopaedia Retrieved August 17, 2007.
- Intermarriage chabad.org Retrieved August 17, 2007.
- The Marriage Imbroglio Retrieved August 17, 2007.
- Interfaith Marriage and Relationship Resources from Interfaithfamily.com Retrieved August 17, 2007.
- After 40 years, interracial marriage flourishing Retrieved August 17, 2007.
- Interracial relationships are on the increase in U.S., but decline with age, Cornell study finds Retrieved August 17, 2007.
- Interracial Marriages Eroding Barriers Retrieved August 17, 2007.
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