Namaste,

I think I need to clarify my views a little further. My intention is to bring out the opinion (it is my opinion and not known to me as fact, I admit) that compatibility among personalities have as much a role to play than dogmatic beliefs. Hence, Hindus might get married to Hindus, Muslims to Muslims etc., but I don't believe that religious compatibility should be given preference over personality, esp. when the person involved may have personality flaws that are completely masked or unknown. Handing over one's daughter to such a person irrespective of their faith would be very dangerous indeed.

Having said that, I do see the point of the argument being made by the older people in the forums in this thread. If parents feel that their should be same-religion/race/caste marriages to enable marital success and happiness of the family unit, then good. I can see why problems might start. As one person pointed out, this would be a problem if the two people involved are strong minded in their faith.

Yes, I agree that the success rates for inter-religious marriages are depressingly low, but the causality has to be known. For one, I think it is a confusion over how to raise children, how much society has an influence and how much we want our faith to be an influence on our lives.

I have always mentioned to my friends that faith is supposed to help our lives, not hinder it.