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 to an Abrahamic.
Background:
A 2022 HarrisX global survey found that the Hindus are the most faithful.
According to a 2019-2020 Pew Research survey of Indians, 67% of Hindu respondents felt it was important to prevent women from their community from marrying into another religion; 80% of Muslims felt the same.
The landmark 2008 Pew Forum survey found that only 10% of Hindus in America married outside their faith. Although the survey covered 257 Hindu families, 86% of them were immigrants and 58% were between the ages of 30 and 49. Thus, it focused on the first generation Hindu immigrants from India and reflects norms for interfaith marriages in India. It does not shed light on the much higher rate of interfaith marriages second-generation American-born Hindus enter. An independent survey conducted by InterfaithShaadi found that 38% of marriages of young Hindus, Jains and Sikhs are to members of Abrahamic religions (Christians, Jews and Muslims) in America.
In a nationally representative survey of 2,450 Americans, Naomi Schaefer Riley of The New York Times found that certain religious couples are more likely to result in divorce. She also found that interfaith couples were less satisfied than couples of the same-faith.
In light of the increasing number of interfaith marriages in the world, InterfaithShaadi conducted a survey to understand and capture the changing dynamics and sensibilities of Hindu marriages.
What do Hindus think about interfaith marriages?
What if your daughter decides to marry ____ ?
Major Findings
The majority of Hindus believe that the traditional system of arranged marriages followed by their ancestors is still very relevant and that religious and cultural harmony are important for a successful marriage. Hindus also expressed concern about the challenges interfaith couples may face, but the majority do not believe that society discriminates against interfaith couples.
While Hindus are generally concerned about interfaith marriages, there is less concern when the non-Hindu partner belongs to a Dharmic faith, like Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism. The greatest unhappiness was expressed for their daughter marrying a Muslim. Of the three Abrahamic religions, Hindus had the least concern about a Hindu-Jewish interfaith marriage.
Survey Summary
About the Survey:
The survey was conducted over 21 days in September 2022. The online survey was open to all respondents who identified themselves as Hindus, anywhere in the world. We received a total of 1,083 responses from Hindus living in 20 countries across the globe. A total of 710 people successfully completed the survey: the proportion of respondents living in India was 45%, and the proportion of respondents with children aged 18+ was 47%. The online survey was conducted with the help of Survey Analyst Richa Gautam who is also a co-author on this article.
Hindus views on interfaith marriages:
- The majority of Hindus (65%) believe that the custom of arranged marriages followed by their ancestors is still very much relevant, and 82% believe that religious and cultural harmony are important components of a successful marriage.
- They believe it is difficult for interfaith couples to adjust in their families (75%).
- Children from an interfaith marriage are confused and find it difficult to adjust (72%).
- It is difficult to practice two different conflicting religious ideologies in the same household (79%).
- The majority of Hindus (59%) do not believe that society discriminates against interfaith couples. However, most Hindus (60%) do not believe that interfaith marriages bring harmony to the world.
Views about other faiths/religions:
In response to a question about their concern about a non-Hindu partner from a particular faith group or religion (rating 1 = very happy and 5 = very unhappy and will disown the child):
- Hindus were most unhappy about their daughter marrying a Muslim (rating 4.21 out of 5 as highest concern; unhappiness was expressed by 96% of Hindus).
- Hindus’ concern include, in decreasing order, Christians (3.78; 86%), Jews (3.57; 80%), other Dharmic faiths (2.37; 34%), and marrying a Hindu but belonging to a different sect (2.01; 25%. Lowest possible score is 1.00 or 0%).
Primary Results of the Survey
Hindu views on interfaith marriages
The data are presented in Fig. 1 as scores for Hindus who strongly agree (score = 1.0) to strongly disagree (score = 5.0) with the given question. The groups “Strongly Agree” and “Agree” have been combined to draw conclusions about number of Hindu views and are presented as % of the total respondents (Figs. 2-8).
The majority of Hindus believe that the custom of arranged marriages followed by their ancestors is still very relevant (65% indicated that they strongly agree or agree), with an overall score of 2.15 out of 5 (minimum possible score is 1.00). They also believe that religious and cultural compatibility is important for a successful marriage (82% agreed with a score of 1.73). They believe that interfaith couples will have difficulty adjusting within their families (75% agreed with a score of 1.95), children from interfaith marriages are confused and find it difficult to adjust (72% with a score of 2.05) and believe it is difficult to practise two different religious beliefs in the same household (79% with a score of 1.86).
When asked whether interfaith couples face discrimination in society (overall score 2.83), 41% agreed, 28% disagreed, while 30% were neutral on the question. In summary, the majority of Hindus (59%) have not expressed that society discriminates against such couples.
The majority of Hindus (60%) do not believe that interfaith marriages bring harmony in the world (a score of 3.69), 24% remained neutral on this question while 16% of Hindus believe that interfaith marriages are good for society.
Views on dealing with people of different faiths in an interfaith relationship
It is understood that a Hindu parent would not object to their child marrying someone of their own religious subtype or sect, and for this reason the question has not been included here. Instead, Hindus were asked a hypothetical question: what if your daughter decides to marry one of the following? They were asked to rate their reaction from very happy (score = 1) to extremely unhappy and will disown the relationship (score = 5; Fig. 9).
Marriage to another Hindu sect:
When it comes to their daughter marrying someone who is not from her own sect but still nevertheless Hindu (overall score of 2.05, Fig. 9), the majority (39%) said that they will be very happy (Fig. 10). Overall, 75% said they would be either happy or very happy if their daughter got married in another Hindu sect. 22% of Hindus expressed concern (unhappy or very unhappy but will support the relationship). Only 4% said they would disown the relationship if their Hindu daughter were to marry a Hindu from another sect.
Hindu-Jain, Hindu-Sikh or Hindu-Buddhist marriages:
Hindu concern was also related to other Dharmic faiths such as marrying their daughter to a Sikh, Jain or Buddhist (score of 2.37, Fig 9; unhappy 34%, Fig 11). Serious concern (disowning the relationship) was expressed by only 5% (compared to 26% to 53% for three Abrahamic religions, Figs. 12-14).
66% of Hindus said they would be happy if their daughter married someone from another Dharmic faith. This is in stark contrast to the figures for the Abrahamic religions, where 20%, 14% and just 4% of Hindus surveyed expressed happiness at their daughters marrying Jews, Christians and Muslims, respectively.
Muslim-Hindu marriages
Hindus expressed most unhappiness about a marriage of their daughter to a Muslim (score of 4.21 out of 5; Fig. 9). The majority (53%) expressed great concern and said they would disown the relationship (Fig. 12). 22% of them said they will be very unhappy with the relationship but will reluctantly support their child. 21% of respondents said they will be unhappy.
Only 4%* of respondents said they would be happy or very happy if their daughter married a Muslim, while the remaining 96% expressed varying degrees of unhappiness. Similar results were also observed in two subgroup analyses (Hindus from India vs. outside India and Hindus with a child 18+ vs. the rest; see Table 1).
*We found that all 12 (2%) of respondents responded “Very Happy” across all 5 faith groups or religions, indicating no selectivity. It is possible that it is their real desire or they did not understand the question. Alternatively, they may have difficulty working with the e-survey and make unintended entries. In order not to enter into bias, we have left all data for our analyses as they are.
Christian-Hindu and Jew-Hindu marriages:
Hindus had significant unhappiness about interfaith marriages with a Christian (score of 3.78, Fig. 9) and with a Jew (3.57).
It is interesting to note that the extreme concern as expressed by disowning their child when choosing a spouse was 26% for a Jewish spouse, a third (33%) for a Christian spouse, and more than half (53%) for a Muslim spouse.
Hindus, numerically at least, were slightly more unhappy about their daughter marrying a Christian than to a Jew (unhappy 86% and 80%, respectively).
Survey secondary analyses
India vs. Diaspora
Is there a difference in interfaith acceptance between Hindus living in India vs the Hindus in the diaspora? This was an interesting subset to break down and draw out because we were able to create this dichotomy through our questionnaire. 45% of the respondents live in India, the remaining 55% live in the other 19 countries.
Interestingly, the number of people in India who are concerned with inter-sect and inter-dharmic marriages is twice that of the diaspora (Table 1). This means that the diaspora becomes much more liberal in accepting inter-sect and inter-dharmic marriages.
The diaspora remains concerned about Hindu marriages with Jews and Christians but to a lesser extent than those Hindus living in India.
In stark contrast, unhappiness about Hindu-Muslim marriages is equal in the diaspora and in India. This shows that unhappiness is widespread.
We also compared the views of Hindus with children 18+ (47% of the total) with those of other Hindus (probably most younger parents and other adults; referred here as “other” group). The results were broadly comparable between these two groups. The other group had slightly more numerical concerns about interfaith marriages (results not shown). It is possible that parents with children 18+ ultimately recognized reality and were ready to accept their child’s decision, while the other group may have included many parents with younger children and with somewhat conservative attitudes toward interfaith marriages.
Demographic Data
Hindus from around the world responded, including from 5 continents and 20 different countries. A total of 2,341 people viewed the survey, 1,083 responded and 710 completed the survey. The average survey reporting time was 3 minutes. 91% of participants responded via their smartphone. Only respondents aged 18 years of age and older and Hindus were allowed (supposed) to continue this survey.
50% of respondents were from the USA and 45% were from India. The remaining 5% of respondents were from 18 different countries. Of those living outside of India, 88% had lived outside of India for more than 10 years. 47% of all respondents had children aged 18 and older.
Data Collection Process
This was an electronic only survey in English, but some web support was provided to Hindi-speaking participants. Invitations to participate in the survey were made by listing it on the InterfaithShaadi website, WhatsApp and other social media and via email to various Hindu organizations and individuals.
Participants’ information was coded and kept confidential. We followed ESOMAR guidelines to protect the privacy of survey participants. The survey was requested only from Hindus and persons aged 18+, but did not verify the information provided by the reporters.
This website served as the main site for electronic communication: https://interfaithshaadi.org/a-social-research-survey/
This survey was launched on September 10, 2022 and ended as scheduled on Sept 30, 2022. We took all data as is and no data point was removed due to suspicion or for any other reason.
We believe that we had sufficient sample size in this survey (1,083 responders) and captured broad groups of Hindus (see demographics) to draw conclusions about Hindus’ views on interfaith marriages. Intermediate analyzes were conducted after 453 responders (42% of total). The final analysis result changed by less than 1%. This indicates that additional data points on 710 completers here will not change the overall conclusions in this study.
Forward Looking Statements
The views of Hindus in this survey do not necessarily reflect their intolerance of other faiths, but simply their desire for their daughters to have the opportunity to continue their culture and traditions. Any further extrapolation of these data to make a judgment about the views of Hindus in this survey should be done only after conducting a similar survey of other religious groups and making a direct comparison with the data presented here.
Comparable to the results of our survey here, the majority (67%) of Hindus in the 2019-2020 Pew Research survey of Indians, believe it is important to prevent women from their community from marrying into another religion. Indian Muslims (80%) were even more conservative on this issue.
The author has guided 1200 couples in interfaith relationships for the past 16 years, and has learned about the hardship felt by interfaith dating couples (read the book).
In the Abrahamic religions, religious conversion is usually expected for interfaith marriages, while there is no such practice in the four Dharmic religions. Moreover, many countries have made interfaith laws favoring the Abrahamic majority faith.
Exclusivist supremacist ideologies may likely be the main reason why Hindu parents have greater reservation about their daughter marrying an Abrahamic (80-96%) but less about marrying a Sikh, Buddhist or Jain (34%).
It is clear from our survey that Hindus are most concerned about their daughter marring a Muslim. This is likely due to the Muslim practice of expecting the Hindu bride to convert to Islam, which practice is over 1000+ years old. The more recent social change of dating and self-selecting a life-partner, love-proselytism (also known as Love-Jihad) also worries Hindu parents.
One possible reason that Hindus are less concerned about Jews–at least numerically–than Christians and Muslims in our survey is that the two communities have lived harmoniously in India for centuries, and without any conflict ever being reported. Another possible reason is that Hindus view Jews as less doctrinaire than the other Abrahamic religions of Christianity and Islam.
Pluralistic thinking that respects each other’s beliefs and practices in marriage will help bridge the gap between the different faith communities. The authors believe that it is time to end the practice of religious conversion for interfaith marriages and that people should learn to respect others with equality.
PDF summary of this survey:
Interfaith Marriage Survey-Nov 1, 2022
Also read:
Love-Jihad: Use and misuse of the term
Hindu-Muslim Marriage and Application of Pluralism (Authors: Dilip Amin and Mike Mohammed Ghouse)
Hindus are not Kafir (Authors: Dilip Amin, Imam Iftekhar Hai and Mike Mohammed Ghouse)
About Authors:
Dr. Dilip Amin is Director of the Peninsula Multifaith Coalition in the San Francisco Bay area and a certified speaker for the Islamic Networks Group. He is a Dharma Ambassador and a member of the Hindu American Foundation Advisory Board. He is a prison chaplain and Columnist of Patheos. Dr. Amin is co-author of the book Hindu Vivaha Samskara. He founded the web forum InterfaithShaadi.org, led 1200 youth and summarized his experiences in the book–Interfaith Marriage: Share & Respect with Equality. He is also the founder of HinduSpeakers.org..
Richa Gautam is a data analyst and researcher and has worked in the market research industry for over ten years. She also advocates for Indian American issues, and works on faith and interfaith issues. She is a writer and columnist writing under her by-line for various publications and also appears on various news channels to discuss her work and research related topics.
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