As of 2006, 25 percent of U.S. households were made of interfaith couples, according to the Washington Post.
The paper reported:
The American Religious Identification Survey of 2001 reported that 27 percent of Jews, 23 percent of Catholics, 39 percent of Buddhists, 18 percent of Baptists, 21 percent of Muslims and 12 percent of Mormons were then married to a spouse with a different religious identification. If you want to see what the future holds, note this: Less than a quarter of the 18- to 23-year-old respondents in the National Study of Youth and Religion think it's important to marry someone of the same faith.
Last month SpokaneFAVS posted a poll question about interfaith dating that prompted quite a discussion. So, we thought we'd take it further by asking our panelists.
Is it OK to date someone outside of your faith?
Pearce Fujiura | Sep 1, 2012 | 8:03am
Everyone I have ever dated has been non-Buddhist. I think it is more than ok to date outside of your religious faith, I think it should be encouraged!
First of all, I didn’t seek out non-Buddhists to date, it was just statistically probable. Buddhists make up such a small fraction of the overall population of the country, and regionally an even smaller percentage of the places in which I’ve lived. As a result I’ve only even met 2 Buddhist women within 30 years of my age demographic before I met my wife, amongst those individuals neither of them were from my sect. I would have pretty slim pickings if I attempted to only date within my religion. Besides the logistical practicalities of interfaith dating, I have found that dating outside of my religion has afforded me rare insight into other religions.
When dating outside of your faith you are exposed daily to ideas outside of your own. You are challenged and you are given opportunities to challenge others. If you approach this situation with an open mind, you may find that you can learn so much from the faith of others. If you find yourself considering the commitment of marriage you can discover what parts of your faith are integral to your values, and which parts mesh well with those whom are different than yourself. I think many people would be surprised to find that, when it can to the things that REALLY matter, there is almost complete overlap amongst all of the faiths. For example, almost every religion on the planet discourages taking human life, stealing, lying, and hurting others emotionally and physically. All Christians believe in Jesus Christ as mankind’s savior. Nearly every religion supports the ideas of fidelity within marriage. We all have traditions and cultures that enrich our lives and our faiths. I think the world would benefit from more households that celebrate intermingling these traditions and focusing on our similarities rather than our differences.
Sure there are some beliefs that may be irreconcilable, but often the people that hold those beliefs will not find themselves compatible with each other any way.
We should not force ourselves to date people whom we are not attracted to, or with whom we share no common ground. But why exclude potentially wonderful individuals from the dating pool sight unseen without at least trying to see if you are compatible?
It is a big world out there, we should endeavor to know as much of it as possible.
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