For most of my early life, religion was the least of my interests, but all that changed when my children approached marriageable age. Being raised with completely pluralistic beliefs, it is difficult for me to comprehend others’ exclusivist thinking.
I discovered that some proud Hindu relatives and friends had gotten married to Muslims by Islamic nikaah marriage after religious conversion or married in Catholic churches after signing a prenuptial agreement to raise children only in the Christian faith. They were reluctant to disclose more details to me and probably found my inquiries an invasion of their privacy. In search of truth, instead of trying to learn locally, I decided to reach out internationally and set up a non-profit web forum Interfaith Marriage with Equality (InterfaithShaadi.org) in 2009.
The website grew in popularity and today has a collection of more than 23,000 comments, which reflect the opinion, mindset and trend of the present generation. Though youths in interfaith relationships will not talk to their parents or best friends about their issues, they gladly disclosed many minute details to me (under alias “Admin”). This gave me the opportunity to understand the complexities of interfaith marriages and the pain people are suffering due to exclusivist religious ideology.
While advising more than 900 new adults in the midst of their interfaith love relationships, I conveyed a basic message of interfaith marriages with religious equality. Endorsements of my views from people in love have assured me that I am on the right path. With this book, I now wish to reach out to the rest of world to promote religious pluralism in marriage and true mutual respect for each other’s faith.
There are many direct and indirect contributors to this book. First the author would like to thank some 5000 individuals who shared their views on interfaith marriage with equality (or in-equality) on the Interfaithshaadi.org forum. The author also appreciates more than 900 people in interfaith love relationships that shared their personal experiences. Such experiences and viewpoints helped shape the messages in this book. Many of these real life experiences are included in this book.
The author also provided draft version of this book to the following individuals from different faiths: Dr. Ashok Kuber, Debbie Motto, Deepak Chandani, Deepak Kotwal, Pastor Connie Winter-Eulberg, Hanah Khan, Dr. Lok Shandilya, Manu Patel, Nainan Desai, Rajiv Varma, Richard Heiman, Sonal Mann, Tushar Pandya and Vickie Sherman. This book has benefitted from their comments and feedback. The views expressed in this book are author’s own views. The above reviewers may or may not be in agreement with the views presented in this book.
The author wishes to thank Ashley Moore for cover design, Ekta Patel for Mehndi design, Janki Patel for Mehndi artwork, Aditya Patel for photography and my wife Raju Amin for providing her support throughout this project over past 12 years.
—Dilip Amin, Ph.D.
References:
Book-Interfaith Marriage: Share and Respect with Equality
Video messages by the author
How to purchase the book (as low as Rs.270 or $14.99).
Return to Home, Blogs, How to Share? Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Book, Media.
