Multi-Belief Families

By ian

So one thing I’ve been considering a lot of the past couple of days are the potential challenges of raising a child in a home where the parents have differing religious beliefs. In my family, my wife is an Episcopal and I’m Buddhist. This doesn’t present much of a problem for us because both religions are very open and accepting to other viewpoints. But, some families this may be more of a problem.

I guess this would come up that often. I’m sure that in most cases people with strong religous beliefs would likely seek others with similar beliefs. I know that one of my friends is currently having a tough time finding a good jewish guy to date. However, I’m sure that there are at least some instances of marraiges between people with drastically differing beliefs.

As I said, the ideals of Buddhism and most Christian denominations fit together well, but I imagine it would be difficult in other situations. Say a family was mixed between Roman Catholic and Muslim or Hinndu and Judaism. I would think that these combinations could lead to some tough decisions when raising children. Which faith do you teach? If you teach both how do you explain both in the same context? Do you allow the child to decide or decide for them?

If anybody who reads this blog is familiar with any families like this, let me know. I’d be very interested to learn more. I’d imagine that a family that can successfully raise a child in a multi-faith household could teach us a lot about peacefully co-existing with all religions.