Word: interfaith
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...more testy than last year's Obama-induced euphoria. There was a universal sense among the Muslim delegates that the President had offered fine words in the past year but not much action. And now, Clinton entertained a question from Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, on behalf of an interfaith group of religious leaders, about the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip: Why wasn't the U.S. doing more to alleviate it? (See pictures of Obama's diplomacy...
...survey of 4,000 U.S. adults from the Pew Forum shows that even Americans who don't live in interfaith households are curious about other religious traditions. One-quarter of all adults attend services of a faith tradition other than their own at least occasionally throughout the year (not counting special events like weddings and funerals). Social scientists and observers have known for decades that Americans generally have much higher levels of religiosity than their European cousins. But these new findings reveal that this distinctly American enthusiasm for religion includes an embrace of multiple faith practices and beliefs as well...
...researchers also looked at the effect of interfaith marriage on an individual's willingness to try different religious experiences and concluded that the link "is a complex one." In general, spouses in interfaith marriages tend to be less religiously observant than couples who belong to the same tradition - after all, it can be easier to accept a spouse from another faith if you're not terribly connected to your own. Overall, people in what the researchers call "religiously mixed marriages" attend worship services far less often than their same-religion peers, and they are no more likely to attend services...
However, individuals in interfaith marriages who do have some degree of religious commitment - attending worship services at least yearly - are actually more likely to be interested in a variety of faiths and to attend multiple types of services. More than 4 in 10 interfaith spouses (43%) report visiting other houses of worship, compared with roughly 3 in 10 people married to a spouse from the same faith...
Critics of interfaith marriage charge that it often leads to a watering down - and even abandonment - of both traditions. Rather than feeling strongly tied to two traditions, children feel no attachment to either. Parents who can't agree on which tradition their children should be raised in compromise by attending no services. But the Pew study indicates that for at least some interfaith families, religious commitment can lead to a richer, more varied faith life and a greater willingness to experience traditions outside one's own. That provides some comfort at this time of year to those of us whose...