Analysis Of Interfaith Marriage

The International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family describes Interfaith Marriage the following way: “Religious intermarriage as it reflects interaction in an open society is a gauge of changing social structures and norms. The extent to which interfaith marriage is possible and the degree of social and religious institutions' acceptance of interfaith couples indicate the breadth and depth of such changes.”

As described in the quote, interfaith marriage is a more complex idea then I will be able to write about in one paper. So I will look at the big picture of interfaith marriage and the American culture’s thought, feelings, and statistics on exogamous marriages. The main question being “Have feelings about interfaith marriages altered

Larry Bumpass in his article says that there are many factors that affect the interfaith marriage rates. Such has “ethnic and socioeconomic dissimilarity of religious groups.” See Example 1 for a chart which illustrates some of the factors affecting interfaith marriage rates. Some could even say that globalization is affecting the interfaith marriage rates today. With globalization increasing significantly in the past one hundred years, we also find that cultures start to slowly adapt and change their norms. Homogenization of cultures start to take place and the differences between them seem less visible. Religion being an important part of culture is in no doubt affected by these changes. They start to adapt to the world around them and eventually religions also start to become more similar. Which in turn affect the increase of interfaith marriage in America. In his article, Larry Bumpass states that “If religious groups have become more similar over time, we might expect a consequent increase in interfaith marriage whether or not there has been a loosening of endogamous

According to the Pew Research Center, we see that before the 1960s the percentage of people entering interfaith marriages was 19%. However, between 2010 and 2014, that percentage has risen to 39%. Four out of ten Americans are entering interfaith marriages and one can assume that number is only rising. See Example 2 for a chart with percentages in those entering into interfaith marriages in the past fifty years. The percentage of interfaith relationships are even higher. Caryle Murphy, in her article in the Pew Research Center website, says that 49% of unmarried couples living together are from different religious backgrounds. That is 10% higher than those in interfaith