Indonesia’s Ban on Interfaith Marriages: A Blow to Religious Freedom

October 6, 2024 By Dr. Dilip Amin

Indonesia’s Ban on Interfaith Marriages: A Blow to Religious Freedom Interfaith marriages have become virtually impossible in the Republic of Indonesia. Recently, the Supreme Court issued a directive prohibiting court judges from approving applications for interfaith marriages. Under this ruling, one partner must convert to the religion of the other, effectively stripping citizens of their right to choose their partner without compromising their religious identity. To comply with the new law, Mahalini Raharja, a Hindu from Bali, was essentially required... Read more

JD Vance and Usha Chilukuri’s Marriage of Religious Equality

July 16, 2024 By Dr. Dilip Amin

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JD Vance, a Roman Catholic, and Usha Chilukuri, a practicing Hindu, unite in marriage to respect each other’s faith and culture. Usha has been guiding JD through significant personal and professional milestones, including the strengthening of his Catholic faith. This union is a great example of religious equality and pluralism in intermarriage. Donald Trump announced JD Vance as his Vice Presidential candidate in the 2024 US elections. Usha met JD at Yale Law School while they were both students. In... Read more

Intermarriage as a New Category of CASTE Systems

June 24, 2024 By Dr. Dilip Amin

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In her best-selling book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (2020), Ms. Isabel Wilkerson introduced a new definition of caste, expanding its application beyond traditional contexts. Wilkerson identified three primary examples of caste systems: the Third Reich in Nazi Germany, the caste system in India, and racial dynamics in the United States. She also briefly mentioned a fourth system related to intermarriage, though she did not elaborate further on this point. This article seeks to address this gap by exploring... Read more

Caste Bills Could Hurt Interfaith Couples

April 8, 2024 By Dr. Dilip Amin

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About 40% of Americans marry interfaith. Any future proposal of a caste bill like the vetoed California Senate Bill 403 (SB 403) could increase legal challenges to current, future (dating), and past (divorced) interfaith married couples. Senator Aisha Wahab or any other author of a similar future caste bill should consider these points for the benefit of interfaith couples. Vetoed SB 403 The California Senate Bill 403 was intended to prohibit discrimination based on caste explicitly, but after revisions merely made affecting discrimination... Read more

Legal Implications in Interfaith Marriages

April 2, 2024 By Dr. Dilip Amin

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Hindu-Jewish Child Custody Court Battle, A Case Study: Wrong expectations and implied understandings are major causes of pain in any marriage, more so in interfaith marriages. Here, the author has used 2022 child custody battle court transcripts to explain potential legal implications in interfaith marriages. In any interfaith marriage, the most important and difficult question to address is: what will be the ‘formal’ religion of their interfaith children? Sometimes, one of the two parties agrees to convert to the other... Read more

Conversion for Marriage

April 17, 2023 By Dr. Dilip Amin

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The intolerant practice of religious conversion for love and marriage should have no place in today’s pluralistic society. Instead, youths should be taught to share and respect with equality in an interfaith marriage. Segregated Societies Communities used to live in their own silos. They mingled with like-minded people, ate the same kind of food, and followed the same faith. However, with modern advances and social media, bridges are being built between these silos. Interfaith marriages will lead to changes in... Read more

Hindu-Muslim Marriages

January 15, 2023 By Dr. Dilip Amin

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Interfaith marriage is one of the most fundamental sins in Islam after shirk, rebellion against parental authority and killing a human being without legal reason. However, according to our research, 45% of Muslims in America marry outside their faith. It is common practice for this “interfaith” marriage problem to be resolved by converting the Hindu fiancé(e) to Islam. Is Hindu-Muslim marriage possible? Yes, “Hindu”-Muslim everlasting happy married life is possible. In most cases, the fault is not with the scriptures,... Read more

The Status of Hindus in Malaysia: A Travelogue

January 12, 2023 By Dr. Dilip Amin

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Hindus in Malaysia are treated as second class citizens even though many of them have been there for at least four generations. This is not merely a subjective or biased opinion but there are statistical data to corroborate it: 1) About 90% of public college admission quotas are reserved for country’s 64% Malay and Muslims majority, 2) More than 90% of well-paying government jobs are taken up by the Malays, 3) by law, a Muslim can proselytize Hindus and the... Read more

Hindu-Jewish Marriages

December 21, 2022 By Dr. Dilip Amin

Jews and Hindus do not proselytize and there is no historical conflict between them. In this regard, a Jewish-Hindu marriage may have fewer religious conflicts compared to the union of a Hindu with a Christian or a Muslim. There are many Jewish-Hindu weddings that are performed in the same wedding hall. A Hindu priest performs the routine Hindu ceremony, and a rabbi performs the Jewish wedding. Both participants wear wedding costumes that match their respectable wedding. The main issue, however,... Read more

Interfaith Marriages Global Survey of Hindus

November 1, 2022 By Dr. Dilip Amin

An online survey was conducted to understand how Hindus view interfaith marriages. The survey was distributed to Hindus around the globe through selected channels and received 1083 responses, of which 710 completed the survey. Some of the results are broadly consistent with findings from Pew Research and other survey groups. The majority of respondents believe that the traditional system of arranged marriages followed by their ancestors is still very relevant. Hindus preference was for their daughter marrying a Dharmic compared... Read more