I come from a Catholic family and am married to one. My sister however wants to marry a Hindu. Our parents are against it because of the religion. What shall we do?
Bob, the Church does not forbid marriage to someone from another religion. Generally, the other party must consent to allow the children to be raised in the Catholic faith. There are other conditions which the couple is encouraged to consider. I'll see what I can find.
I do not think it is a good Idea to marry an unbeliever. The bible warns against this, 2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
Posts: 1 | Location: Dallas | Registered: 19 June 2002
"As for the other matters, although I know of nothing the Lord has said, I say: "If any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever but is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever but is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. The unbelieving husband is consecrated by his believing wife; the unbelieving wife is consecrated by her believing husband."
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As you can see, Paul does not condemn a marriage between a believer and an unbeliever. The passage you quote, Kevin, does not apply to marriage, but to the practices of unbelievers.
There is also the matter of the Church's ongoing reflection concerning this issue, and the Holy Spirit's guidance in the Church. Marriage to people of other faiths, while not encouraged, is nonetheless permitted.
I'll answer this from personal experience. When I married Dan in 1984, he was a practicing Catholic, but only because that was the faith he'd been raised in. Having been a philosophy major and a seeker of truth, he finally decided that the Catholic faith was not the direction he wanted to go in his journey, and he's heading into more new age and eastern religion types of things. While it's not the direction I choose to go, I'd rather have him sincerely seeking than accepting something just because it was the faith he was raised in. And his questions and comments, while coming from a different angle, help me to reflect on my own journey and to try to get clear on where I'm going. Just some thoughts.
quote:
Originally posted by Phil: [qb]There is also 1 Cor. 7: 12-14.
"As for the other matters, although I know of nothing the Lord has said, I say: "If any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever but is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever but is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. The unbelieving husband is consecrated by his believing wife; the unbelieving wife is consecrated by her believing husband."
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As you can see, Paul does not condemn a marriage between a believer and an unbeliever. The passage you quote, Kevin, does not apply to marriage, but to the practices of unbelievers.
There is also the matter of the Church's ongoing reflection concerning this issue, and the Holy Spirit's guidance in the Church. Marriage to people of other faiths, while not encouraged, is nonetheless permitted.[/qb]
Posts: 46 | Location: Sacramento, CA | Registered: 14 August 2001
Good post, Peggy. I think for most spouses, the critical issue is how your spouse treats you. If you are of the same faith tradition, but are treated disrespectfully, discounted, and maybe even abused, what good is that? If, on the other hand, your spouse is an atheist who treats you with great love and consideration, you probably won't complain much. Ideally, we have the best of both situations, but it doesn't always happen that way.
Your post reminds us that even though we are so close to our spouses as to seem of one life with them, they really do need to work out their own spirituality, and we need to give them the space to do so.
