I think the only way an inter-faith marriage works is if one or both truly are passive in their beliefs. If you differences of faiths only come into play on holidays, then obviously neither of you are that firm in ur religion. Religion is so much more than a few holidays or special events. Your beliefs are a part of your daily life. If you are a true participant in your faith it should come into play constantly. You have to teach your children, study the bible, attend worship. My husband is "Catholic" but he does absolutely nothing to BE Catholic. He doesn't attend mass, confess, nor does he attendr on Easter or Christmas. If you celebrate both sets of "holidays" you are basically teaching your children nothing because they conflict with one another. I think if you are having issues choosing a religion it needs to start with research. Read/study your bible. If you don't understand it, seek help Google your holidays. Where do they come from? What do they mean? Do they have a base in scripture or are they simply man made? If you understand what you believe and why you are giving your children a much stronger foundation in life.

Hi I'm Emilie and I am a high school student living in Sandpoint Idaho. For our English class we are writing research reports for our teacher and I decided to write about interfaith marriage. We need to interview and I thought this may be a solution. If anyone the time and could answer these questions as soon as possible it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for your time! 1. What is the most difficult aspect of the wedding ceremony? 2. What are some of the most unknown challenges of an interfaith marriage? 3. In your opinion, how is the best way to give children of an interfaith marriage a religious upbringing? 4. Do you believe interfaith marriages require more commitment than regular marriages and if so why? 5. Do you think most religious officials approve of interfaith marriages? Thank you again! -Emilie

Oh, what a hot topic for me! I go to Russian Orthodox Chirch, and my husband has got very interested in Buddhism (but he doesn't practice anything, just read about it). Our daughters are not baptized (though my and my husband's grandmothers were upset about it). But my older girl goes to church with me sometimes. A couple of months ago my older daughter (she's 5) started asking questions: "What is that thing, that a priest gives you in that spoon? I want to eat it too! I wanna be baptized" After we discussed it a little, she took her Ken doll and Pocahontas doll: Ken was "a priest" and Pocahontas came to him, and asked if she can be baptized, and he told her "Well, then you need read the Bible" - and she went to do it and finally was baptized :) After that I tried to find a Bible for 5-year old children, so that the text won't be to difficult to understand, but also not to formal (which makes it hard to understand, what's the point of this whole thing, too). And we read and discussed Bible with my daughter. My husband said, well, that's fine, if she wants it, but I will keep sharing with her my opinion about life, death, God, etc, and who knows, maybe she'll change her faith some day? Then the priest in my church said, that in cases like ours he suggests to wait untill my girl is old enough to decide it by herself, which one (mom's, dad's, someone else's?) is her way (BTW, such a suggestion is not typical for Orthodox :) )... So we finally got 3 children Bibles with beautiful pictures, and my daughter likes to look at them and listen to some stories, she still goes to church with me sometimes, and I tell her about Christ, and holidays like Easter, when they come (we have no big problem with Christmas, because after USSR New Year is the main winter holiday, not Christmas), and my husband still shares with her some of his thoughts about the world, life, death... I understand Alice, I'd prefer to have one religion to raise a kid in, but maybe what we have in interfaith families - is just a true reflection of the whole world... And our children would learn love, tolerance and pluralizm from their parents... Maybe Christ won't mind those things?

I don't understand when people say that they believe every religion or religion is what is right for you. Religion is either true or it isn't. If you believe everything then you really believe nothing. You can't logically believe two things that contradict each other. I am personally a Christian. I understand what Alice is saying about the Catholic church. They consider tradition as important as scripture, and they have created the position of the Pope that isn't Biblical. I just wanted to say that there are Christians besides Catholics. I would recommend The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel for anyone who is curious. He started out as an atheistic journalist researching if Jesus really was who He said He was. I think marriage is definitely easier if you have the same faith. I honestly don't know how people make it without Christianity because God helps me get through.

My mom sings in the Unitarian Choir and is super involved in the Unitarian church. Love it. Such a great group of open-minded loving people. I think I'll always be a dabbler. Subscribing to one religion has never appealed to me. I think I'll pass the same torch onto my kids that was passed on to me in terms of teaching my children to teach themselves.

Girls gone child etc... try Unitarian Universalism. Room for lots of exploration and different religious viewpoints.

I am of the firm belief that any religion that is forced upon my children will ultimately be rejected, in some form. Whether or not they abandon the religion or simply go about the steps without thinking about them, I feel that the spiritual side will suffer. Perhaps it's simply because I was raised Catholic and had too many rules. We don't Believe that. We don't Believe this. Why? Why not? Who says? Some man in some building 200 years ago? Why? Why him? Why is my opinion any less valuable than any "ordained" person? Obviously, I still have issues with Religions. I felt that every church I attended, people were there for the community and not God. I can find friends other places. I can find God much easier while sitting on the grass, breathing deeply, being peaceful. My kids are being raised to ask questions. When they ask me why God made tornadoes, or poisonous snakes, or why we die, I ask them what they think. I tell them what I think. We talk and I end up realizing that children are deeply spiritual, if we allow them the freedom to think for themselves. No disrespect to any families who raise their kids in a strict religion. I truly hope that your family is happy and remains so. I can only speak from what I have experienced and my experience is that I lost God for quite some time. It wasn't until I let go of RELIGION that I found spirituality....

Hm. Well the episode is about inter-faith marriages not religion. And hey! If you want to share your experience as an athiest in your marriage, do it sister. We're not here to "tackle" anything but to discuss. And everyone is invited to the party.