Most People In India Oppose Marriage To Another Religion: Pew Survey

 Most People In India Oppose Marriage To Another Religion: Pew Survey:

The Pew Research Center spoke to 30,000 people about marriage and religion

 Esha and her husband Rahul look like a happy newlywed couple. They often endorse each other during the conversation and whenever Isha feels that her husband has strayed from the subject, she politely and lovingly brings him back to the subject without realizing it. ۔

They both believe that the main reason for the success of their marriage is that they belong to the same religion, Hinduism. Esha says being from the same religion works in many places. "We don't have to learn new things.

According to a survey on religion by the Pew Research Center, a global think tank, religious tolerance across India is considered by Indians to be an important pillar of their society, but on the other hand, followers of all major Indian religions Realizes that they have very few values ​​in common.

During 2019 and 2020, the Pew Research Center spoke to 30,000 people speaking 17 different languages ​​in 26 Indian states and three territories administered by the Federation.

When it came to mutual relations, Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims all agreed that their first priority was to stop intermarriage between people of different faiths. 80% of Muslims and 56% of Hindus think the same way.

The survey also found that despite this thinking, people are passionate about religious tolerance and want to live in a society separate from their own religion.

From this analysis it is concluded that this feeling or thinking among the people indicates a major contradiction in the society but the majority in India views it differently and it is not considered as a contradiction.

‘Our Society Was One’

Isha and Rahul's wedding photo

Isha and Rahul became friends through the internet and after eight months of dating, they decided to get married. Due to the Corona epidemic, their marriage did not go through the traditional festivities that Isha calls the 'Great Indian Wedding' and last year there was a simple ceremony at home attended by eleven members of the family.

Esha says that when she started looking for a husband, she did not realize how important it was for a couple to be of the same religion.

She laughed and said she was rebellious and thought it didn't matter. "But when I got married to a man who was a Hindu like me, I thought it made life a lot easier. In India, you have to travel with the whole family, which makes it much easier. His views on the importance of marrying a fellow believer reflect a dominant thinking in Indian society.

Rahul believes that this may be due to the way people in India think about family and community. He said that a person's decision to marry in a non-religious way affects other people as well. Individuality is not valued in Indian society.

"Individuality matters in Christians and in countries like the United States. In Indian families, decisions are made collectively. You don't marry one person, you build a relationship with the whole family. ' Tanah Malhotra Sundhi, who has a relationship, says she often encounters such thoughts in her work. "They deal with urban people who are enlightened, literate and have seen the world," he said. Still, she says many people are unwilling to marry into a non-religious group.

Tania says this may be due to the way people think about different religions. He says most Hindus fear that Muslims and Christians will force them to convert. He told the story of a Muslim man. The man told her that when Hindu women married Muslim men, they feared that in Islam, men were allowed to have more than one marriage, lest they remarry.

"Of course he doesn't want to have two marriages, but because religion allows it, women have this fear." Tania hopes that these views will change. He says that as far as marriage is concerned, religion should not matter if two like-minded people come close.

"It's just mutual love."

Somat Chauhan and his wife Azra Parveen agree. Sumat is from a Hindu family. Azra is a Muslim. We were talking after his fifth wedding anniversary and I can see his smile when he told us about his first meeting with Azhar at Delhi University in 2010. Somat said they spent three years together in college.

Tania makes people's relationships

Our friendship was very deep and we were very happy with each other:

He said he knew that because he belonged to different religions, the decision to marry would be very difficult. He said his family had some misconceptions about Muslims but he did not know his mother, sister. And persuaded his brother.

Under a new law on marriage in India, non-religious couples have to advertise their marriage in a public place for 30 days. The idea is that if anyone has an objection to such a marriage, they can register it. In some Indian states where there are BJP governments, further steps have been taken. For example, there is a law on conversion that was enacted in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in November 2020, banning conversion by force, fraud and marriage.

Somat said he was afraid of his decision to get married so that it would not be known and it would be stopped. Fortunately, no one knew about their marriage, but Azra's family did not speak to her for three years. "Now they have started talking but they are still hiding the marriage."

Somat admits that it is very difficult for couples like him to fall in love and get married. But they don't think you have to change your religion in order to love and marry someone. According to him, living with a lover is not a crime.