NY Times devotes article to Jewish concerns re Chelsea Clinton interfaith marriage

[alp227]

You know what that liberal Commie Democrat Socialist anti-Bush pro-Obama socialist newspaper The New York Times considers worth a news article space in this supposedly post-racial and post-religious and post-homophobic and tolerant era? "Interfaith Marriages Stir Mixed Feelings":

When Steven Cohn, a Chicago-area lawyer, looked at photographs of Marc Mezvinsky, outfitted with a yarmulke and a prayer shawl, and Chelsea Clinton, luminous in a strapless gown and a 100-watt smile, he recalled his own interfaith marriage 30 years ago to Loreli Fritz-Cohn, a Methodist, on her grandmother’s farm in Ohio. He, too, wore a prayer shawl — though he recalled how hard it had been to find a Reform rabbi to perform the ceremony.

From the evidence of his own gratifying marriage, he considered the Clinton-Mezvinsky union a decisive plus for the vitality of his faith. “Loreli has joined the Jewish community,” he said. “She goes to synagogue with me.” And, he said, “Our children have stayed involved with the Jewish community.”

“They shouldn’t look at it as a loss,” he added, referring to statements made in the past week by Jewish organizations and their leaders. “Although there is that risk, there’s also the possibility of gain, which it has been for us.”

Nonetheless, the seemingly incandescent wedding of Ms. Clinton and Mr. Mezvinsky has churned up ambivalent reactions among the nation’s almost six million Jews.

There is a clannish pride that after a history of exclusion and prejudice, the grandson of a Jewish Iowa grocer could marry into what passes for political royalty in the United States.

But some Jews fear that the societal openness confirmed by high-profile intermarriages like that of Ms. Clinton and Mr. Mezvinsky, or Caroline Kennedy and Edwin A. Schlossberg in 1986, prod more Jews to marry out of their faith. That, they worry, could threaten the vitality of a group that represents no more than 2 percent of the American population.

Wow...it's concerning to see marriage between people of different faiths? I mean, didn't Nikki Haley, the Republican candidate for Governor of South Carolina, marry a Christian despite being raised a Sikh? If Republicans (the socially conservative Americans) tolerate it, then why not liberals at least.

While I bet that I can't find a single DUer who's hostile to interracial marriage much less same-sex marriage (I've heard that some on DU accepted civil unions but not marriage) do any of you still not see interfaith marriage as completely socially acceptable?

[sakabatou]

1. Oh for fucks sake...

My brothers and I have and will marry a non-Jew.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

7. I very much hope that you mean

"My brothers and I have and will marry non-Jews"...

[sakabatou]

10. OK here's what I mean.

My oldest brother is married to a non-Jew.
My older brother and I are engaged to non-Jews.

Does that help?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

16. To how many non-Jews are you and your older brother engaged? N.T.

[sakabatou]

36. One each.

We're not cheaters.

[damntexdem]

12. Sequentially, or polyandry?

;-)

[sakabatou]

37. O.o?

[JuniperLea]

2. Moses AND Baby Jesus are crying at this one...

I for one am really tired of bigotry.

[napi21]

11. There are extremists in every religion. That's all you're seeing here.

I remember when I was growing up through my teens, we as Catholics weren't even allowed to enter a protestant Church or participate in a friends wedding if the couple weren't both Catholic. I never understood that...still don't! Thank God many things have changed!

[JuniperLea]

20. So true...

It's like this big deal about a "Mosque" going up at "ground zero"... it's not a mosque and it's two blocks away... but let's just hate brown people with an evil religion, shall we?

:banghead:

[damntexdem]

14. If it's baby Moses, he's probably crying because he hates being in ...

that damn basket in the Nile. I mean, with all those crocodiles around, and everything.

But to be serious, it's really no one else's business other than those involved.

[JuniperLea]

19. Yep...

Interesting how the party of "keep your government of out my life" wants to stick their government in the lives of others.

[saracat]

3. Religion again? Sheesh. Who the heck cares? This kind of thing just

stimulates predjudice. I just "knew" something would be made of this! I really wish , for that reson, they didn't release this detail to the Press. I don't really think we "need" to know wht kind of ceremony they had. None of our business. I would much rather see pix of the bridemaids dresses and Chelsea's "other " dress that they embargoed. I don't wanna see the bridesmaids, just the dress!

[Donald Ian Rankin]

8. An awful lot of people care a great deal, sadly. N.T.

[Ikonoklast]

4. It's no ones business except the married couple.

Anyone else needs to STFU and put their 'opinion' where the sun don't shine.


Same with gay marraige, none of my damn business who marries who.


Just save me some cake.

[NNN0LHI]

22. With one qualifier

Make that cannoli cake if at all possible.

Don

[Ikonoklast]

23. Sorry, Milton, no cake left for you.

But you do get this t-shirt in its place.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Would there be criticism if Mark converted to Methodism so there wouldn't be an interfaith issue?

Or they just wanted him to marry some nice Jewish girl to begin with?

[CTyankee]

15. Given the fact that Jewish birth rates aren't very high and the threat to the Jewish state of Israel

it is understandable that some Jews fear that intermarriage will result in a dwindling population to carry on Jewish tradition.

My non-Jewish daughter married a Jewish man and their 3 children (my grandchildren) are being raised Jewish. And I love it.

But let me tell you right here, that knowing my beloved grandkids could ever be placed in any kind of harms way because of their religion makes me boiling mad. When it gets personal, it's different...please don't try to diminish it...

[rucky]

6. Shiksas are for practice.

That's why my grandmother told me when I got engaged (she was fine with it, btw - just had a wicked sense of humor)

[REP]

24. And a filthy mouth

'Shiksa' is a very vulgar term. Does she still call your wife a whore?

[marmar]

9. Organized religion brings the world nothing but agony.

nt

[tinymontgomery]

13. Wow to think of it

as a gain or loss is just incredible. We have 500 catholics, 499 Jewish, update Jewish picked up 3 for 502, Catholics loss 3. etc ( I was raised Catholic).

[monmouth]

17. Was there this hullabaloo when Caroline Kennedy married her Jewish

husband? Sorry, I forgot his name but I don't recall much ado about it. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention since there was nothing to pay attention to...

[saracat]

26. She had a Catholic service AFAIK. No dual ceremony, and the kids are Catholic

Caroline's groom. Ed Sclossberg, didn't make religion as issue. People were much more distracted by the fact he was ,I think, 42 years old to her 28(roughly)

[monmouth]

29. Thanks, I truly did not remember that. That marriage has worked well...n/t

[saracat]

27. We have Jewish inlaws in my family too, and no one cares. My dad even had a Jewish godfather who

promised to raise him as a Catholic in the event of my grandparents death! I think some of the more concerned Jewish community are making an issue of this and I think it is sad. But then, I really dislike organized religion and wish folks could get over it somehow, but I recognize most will not.I really wish we didn't need to know anyone's religion. I cannot fathom WHY we needed to know the religion of either of these people.

[XemaSab]

18. Word up on the comparison to interracial marriage

Let's see how this reads with a few changes:


When Kenya Davis, a Chicago-area lawyer, looked at photographs of Jamal Williams, outfitted with a dashiki and kofia, and Brittany Eckardt, luminous in a strapless gown and a 100-watt smile, he recalled his own interracial marriage 30 years ago to Shannon Miller, a European-American, on her grandmother’s farm in Ohio. He, too, wore a dashiki — though he recalled how hard it had been to find a minister to perform the ceremony.

From the evidence of his own gratifying marriage, he considered the Williams-Eckhardt union a decisive plus for the vitality of his culture. “Shannon has joined the Black community,” he said. “She goes to Kwanzaa celebrations with me.” And, he said, “Our children have stayed involved with the Black community.”

“They shouldn’t look at it as a loss,” he added, referring to statements made in the past week by Black organizations and their leaders. “Although there is that risk, there’s also the possibility of gain, which it has been for us.”

Nonetheless, the seemingly incandescent wedding of Ms. Eckhardt and Mr. Williams has churned up ambivalent reactions among the nation’s almost six million Black people.

There is a clannish pride that after a history of exclusion and prejudice, the grandson of a Black Alabama grocer could marry into what passes for political royalty in the United States.

But some Black people fear that the societal openness confirmed by high-profile intermarriages like that of Ms. Eckhardt and Mr. Williams, or Caroline Kennedy and Rasaan A. Johnson in 1986, prod more Black people to marry out of their race. That, they worry, could threaten the vitality of a group that represents no more than 2 percent of the American population.

[REP]

25. Even Jews debate race/religion; pretty straight forward for those of African ancestry

Anyone can become a Jew, if they are willing to undertake the steps of conversion. I'm not sure how one converts to being African American.

[provis99]

28. race is whatever you fill out on the census form.

It's just a matter of personal opinion; in the 2000 census I was white, while in the 2010 census I was native American. In 2020 I will put African-American. See how easy it is to change your race?

[XemaSab]

35. Ask Vanilla Ice

:hide:

[REP]

38. I don't think his went that well...

[NNN0LHI]

21. Really starting to hate the NYT ... more

Turning into the National Enquirer.

Don

[DFW]

30. I was in a double wedding of (ostebsibly) four faiths

My brother and I are of (partially, anyway) Jewish background, our wives were, respectively, Shinto Buddhist
and Roman Catholic, and we had the ceremony in a Unitarian church. No one cared, and none of us is in the
slightest interested in practicing any kind of organized religion, anyway.

We are still together now, 28 years and counting after our wedding (should that be plural?), and still consider
religion to be the least important part of our backgrounds and marriages.

If the NYT can't grasp that a happy marriage does not sink or swim with the religious backgrounds of the two
partners, then the paper must be comprised of singles only. This is a non-issue.

[saracat]

31. Thumbs up DFW. My hubby and I are also 26 years wed and are of different backgrounds

but we were married in a Catholic Ceremony to please my dada. Religion isn't a big part of our marriage either.I guess it is as important as you make it.

[DFW]

32. I'd say you nailed it exactly

You let it attain its own importance. Whether or not a couple is happy together is (or should) be THE factor that
determines whether a marriage is successful. Whether or not they practice some ritual or subscribe to one creed
or another (or two different ones) is secondary at best.

[MellowDem]

33. It's telling...

that he is satisfied she switched faiths. That's what it takes most times to keep the marriage. Especially when it comes to how to raise the kids. Basically, at least one person better not give a shit about religion or it won't work. And I feel sorry for their kids being raised on a religion not of their choosing. But what can you do.

[Withywindle]

39. Aren't most kids raised in a religion not of their choosing?

I don't think most kids really have the information and autonomy to go looking for their "own" religion until at least puberty. Most kids are raised in the religion of their parents without much choice in the matter.

(But those kids of interfaith marriages might get at least two choices. Confusing but rewarding. Haven't you ever read "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret?")

[MellowDem]

40. Yeah, most are...

though there are parents out there who allow their kids to choose. But, if you are religious, it makes sense that you'll raise your kids in that religion. You don't want your kids going to hell or whatever! Well, most of the time, haha. Not to mention, a lot of it is about culture in many cases associated with the religion. Not to mention the extended family pressure. Ah, the joys of family.

[shimmergal]

34. Actually, I thought it was cool to see

the way they combined both traditions in the wedding ritual. Religion should enhance life and its important events, and it looks like that's what happened here.

As for worries about which faith the couple will identify with, well that's up to them, isn't it? The Methodists, like most mainstream denominations, also have shrinking membership numbers, so the Jewish dilemma is hardly unique.

[snooper2]

41. stupid...my wife is a non-practicing Catholic, I'm athiest..

guess better get the divorce papers ready :eyes: