Hindus, Muslims willing to tie the knot outside their religions

Sydney, July 20 (ANI): An increasing number of Hindus and Muslims are willing to exchange wedding vows with people of other faiths, according to researchers.

A Monash University research has shown that 10 per cent of Hindus have married out of their faith, along with 8 per cent of Muslim men and 6 per cent of Muslim women.

However, the highest rates of intermarriage have been found among Christians.

About 60 per cent of Presbyterian men and women had married someone outside their faith, followed by more than 43 per cent of Uniting Church members, 41 per cent of Anglicans and more than 37 per cent of Catholics.

During the study, the researchers analysed 2001 and 2006 census data.

The 2006 census showed 64 per cent of Australians as Christian, but that was a drop of 7 per cent from a decade earlier.

Instead, non-Christian faiths experienced a rise, as did people identifying with no religion at all.

"It doesn't mean an absence of religion; it means the withdrawal of religion from everyday life and practices, including partnering," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted researcher Genevieve Heard as saying.

She said that smaller religious communities, especially those tied to emerging migrant groups like Muslims and Hindus, had not had as long to establish themselves as those of Christian faiths. (ANI)