Interfaith Marriage in Indonesia: Polemics and Perspectives of Religious Leaders and Community Organizations

Abstract The increasing number of interfaith marriages has recently sparked polemics in society. This study aims to investigate the polemics between the ulama (Muslim religious scholars) and interfaith marriage counseling activists and discuss the arguments among religious community organizations and activists supporting interfaith marriage. In addition, this research also investigates how polemics were conveyed through online media. The present investigation was based on a qualitative approach, administering data sources in the form of observations on online media regarding interfaith marriage. Data analysis employed an interpretive method involving three stages: restatement, description, and interpretation. The restatement was accomplished by citing online news containing arguments relevant to this research’s theme. The description was conducted by correlating all research data to find patterns of information. The interpretation was constructed by focusing on the social context of the data to reveal the meaning behind experts’ statements or ideas and to draw conclusions afterward. The results indicated concerns regarding the understanding and practice in a society where interfaith marriage was assumed to be permissible. In addition, the organizations supporting interfaith marriage viewed the Marriage Law as multi-interpretable and sparked controversies in the community.