This book is a most valuable and important work which all interfaith dating couples should read considering the author’s finding that 38% of Hindus including Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs in America get married to Christians, Jews, or Muslims.  People’s belief system is a serious issue as it determines their worldview, values, customs, rituals, and lifestyle.  The lack of religious awareness and misconceptions land interfaith couples into a lot of complications and unpleasant experiences involving the couples, their children, parents, and the community. The author highlights potential issues arising out of different religious upbringings, and major differences between different faiths.  The author has used 81 real-life experiences of interfaith dating or married couples from the non-profit public forum InterfaithShaadi.org.

 ‘It is fashionable to talk of being secular and tolerant in colleges and thus not always easy to recognize an exclusivist’, says the author. The author helps the readers learn to spot exclusivist thinking in the intended spouse by providing a simple list of questions.  ‘Everyone likes to have equality in many aspects of life.  Religious equality in an interfaith marriage should not be any different, though it is difficult to define’, argues the author.  Further, tolerance towards religious differences may be high during the dating period but then differences may become a major point of conflict later in married life.  The issue of interfaith marriages and their unpleasant consequences could be avoided to a large extent if the youths are given proper spiritual orientation from the beginning. The author has taken the pains to study and evaluate this sensitive topic from a neutral standpoint.