'Til Faith Do Us Part

'Til Faith Do Us Part PDF Author: Naomi Schaefer Riley
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199873755
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
In the last decade, 45% of all marriages in the U.S. were between people of different faiths. The rapidly growing number of mixed-faith families has become a source of hope, encouraging openness and tolerance among religious communities that historically have been insular and suspicious of other faiths. Yet as Naomi Schaefer Riley demonstrates in 'Til Faith Do Us Part, what is good for society as a whole often proves difficult for individual families: interfaith couples, Riley shows, are less happy than others and certain combinations of religions are more likely to lead to divorce. Drawing on in-depth interviews with married and once-married couples, clergy, counselors, sociologists, and others, Riley shows that many people enter into interfaith marriages without much consideration of the fundamental spiritual, doctrinal, and practical issues that divide them. Couples tend to marry in their twenties and thirties, a time when religion diminishes in importance, only to return to faith as they grow older and raise children, suffer the loss of a parent, or experience other major life challenges. Riley suggests that a devotion to diversity as well as to a romantic ideal blinds many interfaith couples to potential future problems. Even when they recognize deeply held differences, couples believe that love conquers all. As a result, they fail to ask the necessary questions about how they will reconcile their divergent worldviews-about raising children, celebrating holidays, interacting with extended families, and more. An obsession with tolerance at all costs, Riley argues, has made discussing the problems of interfaith marriage taboo. 'Til Faith Do Us Part is a fascinating exploration of the promise and peril of interfaith marriage today. It will be required reading not only for interfaith couples or anyone considering interfaith marriage, but for all those interested in learning more about this significant, yet understudied phenomenon and the impact it is having on America.

Beloved Strangers

Beloved Strangers PDF Author: Anne C. Rose
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674006409
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Interfaith marriage is a visible and often controversial part of American life--and one with a significant history. This is the first historical study of religious diversity in the home. Anne Rose draws a vivid picture of interfaith marriages over the century before World War I, their problems and their social consequences. She shows how mixed-faith families became agents of change in a culture moving toward pluralism. Following them over several generations, Rose tracks the experiences of twenty-six interfaith families who recorded their thoughts and feelings in letters, journals, and memoirs. She examines the decisions husbands and wives made about religious commitment, their relationships with the extended families on both sides, and their convictions. These couples--who came from strong Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish backgrounds--did not turn away from religion but made personalized adjustments in religious observance. Increasingly, the author notes, women took charge of religion in the home. Rose's family-centered look at private religious decisions and practice gives new insight on American society in a period when it was becoming more open, more diverse, and less community-bound.

Being Both

Being Both PDF Author: Susan Katz Miller
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 080701320X
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
A book on the growing number of interfaith families raising children in two religions Susan Katz Miller grew up with a Jewish father and Christian mother, and was raised Jewish. Now in an interfaith marriage herself, she is a leader in the growing movement of families electing to raise children in both religions, rather than in one religion or the other (or without religion). Miller draws on original surveys and interviews with parents, students, teachers, and clergy, as well as on her own journey, in chronicling this grassroots movement. Being Both is a book for couples and families considering this pathway, and for the clergy and extended family who want to support them. Miller offers inspiration and reassurance for parents exploring the unique benefits and challenges of dual-faith education, and she rebuts many of the common myths about raising children with two faiths. Being Both heralds a new America of inevitable racial, ethnic, and religious intermarriage, and asks couples who choose both religions to celebrate this decision.

Beyond Chrismukkah

Beyond Chrismukkah PDF Author: Samira K. Mehta
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469636379
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
The rate of interfaith marriage in the United States has risen so radically since the sixties that it is difficult to recall how taboo the practice once was. How is this development understood and regarded by Americans generally, and what does it tell us about the nation's religious life? Drawing on ethnographic and historical sources, Samira K. Mehta provides a fascinating analysis of wives, husbands, children, and their extended families in interfaith homes; religious leaders; and the social and cultural milieu surrounding mixed marriages among Jews, Catholics, and Protestants. Mehta's eye-opening look at the portrayal of interfaith families across American culture since the mid-twentieth century ranges from popular TV shows, holiday cards, and humorous guides to "Chrismukkah" to children's books, young adult fiction, and religious and secular advice manuals. Mehta argues that the emergence of multiculturalism helped generate new terms by which interfaith families felt empowered to shape their lived religious practices in ways and degrees previously unknown. They began to intertwine their religious identities without compromising their social standing. This rich portrait of families living diverse religions together at home advances the understanding of how religion functions in American society today.

Interfaith Marriage

Interfaith Marriage PDF Author: Dilip Amin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781988207209
Category : Interfaith marriage
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
"The book provides information to consider before interfaith marriage. It is based on testimonials from hundreds of people who have married a person practicing another religion."--

American Grace

American Grace PDF Author: Robert D. Putnam
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416566732
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 720

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Book Description
Based on two new studies, "American Grace" examines the impact of religion on American life and explores how that impact has changed in the last half-century.

Strangers to the Tribe

Strangers to the Tribe PDF Author: Gabrielle Glaser
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Any marriage is an adventure, but for partners with different religious backgrounds, the journey is sure to offer some unexpected twists. In Strangers to the Tribe, the journalist Gabrielle Glaser introduces us to eleven Jewish-Gentile couples, their families, and the many ways they have found to navigate their differences. Based on candid interviews across America with couples of all ages, these true stories will inform and inspire anyone embarked on an interfaith partnership. How do Rachel and Eric, a Jewish-Episcopal couple, raise their blended family? How does the Wong family honor all the strands of its Chinese-Hawaiian-Jewish heritage? Can Robin, an outgoing Jew who dreams of becoming a rabbi, and Lee, an introverted Anglo-Catholic, keep their partnership intact? Today, more than half of America's Jews marry outside the faith. Will intermarriage dilute American Judaism beyond recognition? Or will it inspire at least some secular Jews to renew their religious identity, bringing more people into the Jewish fold? These portraits, unsparing yet nonjudgmental, show how the answers are taking shape in interfaith America.

Saffron Cross

Saffron Cross PDF Author: J. Dana Trent
Publisher: Upper Room Books
ISBN: 1935205188
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
A Christian minister and a Hindu monk fall in love and get married. How does this interfaith relationship work? Saffron Cross is the intriguing memoir of the relationship between Dana, a Baptist minister, and Fred, a devout Hindu and former monk. The two meet on eHarmony and begin a fascinating, sometimes daunting but ultimately inspiring journey of interfaith relationship and marriage. Dana's compelling vignettes, laced with self-deprecating humor and refreshing honesty, give you a glimpse into the challenges and benefits of bringing together two vastly different spiritual paths into one household. Saffron Cross includes chapters on Dana and Fred's honeymoon at an ashram in India, their individual spiritual journeys, Sabbath keeping, vegetarianism, grief, community, and more. You will sense what an adventure their East-meets-West partnership has been, and you'll also see how much Fred's commitment to his faith has enhanced Dana's Christian growth. At a time when we are inundated with messages of intolerance and hate, Saffron Cross offers a welcome and inspiring story of empathy, love, and understanding.

JewAsian

JewAsian PDF Author: Helen Kiyong Kim
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0803285655
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
"An examination of intersecting racial, ethnic, and religious identities among couples where one partner is Jewish American and the other is Asian American"--

Still Jewish

Still Jewish PDF Author: Keren R. McGinity
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814764347
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
Over the last century, American Jews married outside their religion at increasing rates. By closely examining the intersection of intermarriage and gender across the twentieth century, Keren R. McGinity describes the lives of Jewish women who intermarried while placing their decisions in historical context. The first comprehensive history of these intermarried women, Still Jewish is a multigenerational study combining in-depth personal interviews and an astute analysis of how interfaith relationships and intermarriage were portrayed in the mass media, advice manuals, and religious community-generated literature. Still Jewish dismantles assumptions that once a Jew intermarries, she becomes fully assimilated into the majority Christian population, religion, and culture. Rather than becoming “lost” to the Jewish community, women who intermarried later in the century were more likely to raise their children with strong ties to Judaism than women who intermarried earlier in the century. Bringing perennially controversial questions of Jewish identity, continuity, and survival to the forefront of the discussion, Still Jewish addresses topics of great resonance in a diverse America.