Małżeństwa mieszane wyznaniowo – w stronę sekularyzacji czy akulturacji?

Abstract

This article depicts issues related to the functioning of religiously mixed marriages. These marriages are embodied in the multicultural landscape of Podlasie, which is inhabited by people of different religious traditions. The diversity of our region causes that many people decide to marry a person belonging to other denominations: for example, one spouse belongs to the Orthodox Church whereas the other one – to the Roman Catholic Church. Religious diversity, which is often applied to the diversity of a nation, entails bicultural nature of the relationship. This makes spouses adopt such attitudes that will facilitate their functioning. It is necessary entails in this type of a marriage a thorny issue may be the place of baptism of a child, double celebration of holidays or dilemmas related to a potential change of a religion. It can be assumed that the religious aspect plays a very important role. Nevertheless, we must also take into account secularizing trends developing in the society and their impact on the functioning of religiously mixed marriages in the form of marginalization of a religious factor.