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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Raising a Cross-Faith Kid/Westerners Converting to Hinduism

With our ever evolving society, the number of interfaith marriages that occur are increasing slowly but steadily. Today, over a quarter of Americans are involved in an interfaith marriage. Pros and cons come with this type of marriage. It is common to see that these kind of couples develop a greater perspective of the world and become more tolerant of others. There is also the issue of agreement within relationships and the possible dilution of faith. It may sometimes prove difficult to retain certain aspects of one's religion exactly as they are supposed to be when involved in an interfaith relationship. Statistics show that divorces of interfaith couples are three times more common than of same faith couples. Along with marriage comes the idea of creating a family and raising children. Parents usually go about raising cross-faith children in one of two ways: choose one of the religions before any children are born and agree to teach them those beliefs or incorporate aspects of both religions and allow the children to decide. Young children tend to default to the more "fun" or socially prevalent religion because they do not have the capacity to make educated decisions about different religious traditions. Learning about both parents' faiths encourages the children to be less ignorant of others' beliefs. Western Conversion is rising as people explore more into different religions. Each person finds what they want in the religion and create their foundation off of that. For example, football player Ricky Williams converted into Hinduism after being introduced to yoga. With Hinduism being "a way of life," it allows individuals to create their own path. 

Would you consider marrying someone of another faith? Why or why not?
How would you go about raising your children if you did marry someone of another faith?
What aspects of another religion would make you consider converting?

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