Can religion prohibit love? Should religion prohibit love? Falling with love with someone outside one's social stratrum has often been contentious matters that are the stuff of Cinderella stories. However, in many communities around the world, not only social strata but also religious cultures stand in the way of love. One would think that love should be something that should be encouraged but this is clearly not the case. Love, like a pond, is often circumscribed.
I was recently taken aback when, reading the prohibitions against marrying foreign women in Ezra and Nehemiah (Hebrew Bible), many of my students agreed that people should marry only within their religions. Many of my students thought that it would be unwise for a Christian to marry a Muslim or for a Buddhist to marry a Jew. They said that such marriages would confuse the children because children would be confronted with different moral traditions in their homes.
I recently read that it is anathema for a Muslim to be married to a Copt in Egypt. In fact, it is thought in Egypt that intermarriage is a means of poaching members of the other religion. The Copts fear that if a Copt marries a Muslim this would lead to loss of Copts while Muslims fear that if Muslims marry Copts, it would also lead to loss of Muslims. Thus it is that people's religious affiliations actively militate against love. In this scheme of things, love is controlled, it is made to stay within bounds, like a pond.
It is often assumed that religions teach that people should love each other. However, it is often the case that those who marry outside their religions (or ethnic groups) are often seen as rebels. Does religion teach love, then?
I was recently taken aback when, reading the prohibitions against marrying foreign women in Ezra and Nehemiah (Hebrew Bible), many of my students agreed that people should marry only within their religions. Many of my students thought that it would be unwise for a Christian to marry a Muslim or for a Buddhist to marry a Jew. They said that such marriages would confuse the children because children would be confronted with different moral traditions in their homes.
I recently read that it is anathema for a Muslim to be married to a Copt in Egypt. In fact, it is thought in Egypt that intermarriage is a means of poaching members of the other religion. The Copts fear that if a Copt marries a Muslim this would lead to loss of Copts while Muslims fear that if Muslims marry Copts, it would also lead to loss of Muslims. Thus it is that people's religious affiliations actively militate against love. In this scheme of things, love is controlled, it is made to stay within bounds, like a pond.
It is often assumed that religions teach that people should love each other. However, it is often the case that those who marry outside their religions (or ethnic groups) are often seen as rebels. Does religion teach love, then?
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