IN FAITH AND IN DOUBT: How Religious Believers and Nonbelievers Can Create Strong Marriages and Loving Families

InFaithAndInDoubtcover

A few weeks ago, I was chatting with one of my best friends (who lives out of state) about how couples do not always have the same religious beliefs. I have the belief that couples can make a relationship work if they do have different beliefs as long as the couple is not critical of each other’s beliefs. It is funny how things work sometimes because when I came home I received an email about reviewing a book called In Faith and In Doubt: How religious believers and nonbelievers can create marriage and loving families. Did you know that  59% of married Americans who claim no religious affiliation are married to someone who does? (Pew Research Center) That fact actually really doesn’t surprise me. I do have different beliefs than some of my friends and even family members.

Mixed belief marriages/relationships tend to bring more complexities when it comes to relationships and parenting, but popular author, Dale McGowan does not believe they are doomed as so many do. In the first book of its kind, IN FAITH AND IN DOUBT: How Religious Believers and Nonbelievers Can Create Strong Marriages and Loving Families (AMACOM; $17.95 Paperback) McGowan shows that mixed-belief marriages and families can be highly successful and deeply fulfilling.

 

In this groundbreaking book, he provides insights such as:

 

  • Advice for handling holidays, churchgoing, baptism, circumcision, religious literacy, and more.
  • Advice for dealing with pressures from extended families
  • Advice on bringing kids into the mix, from the importance of reaching an agreement on a family approach to religion early—preferably before having kids—to pointers on raising children to be both religiously literate and freethinkers.
  • Negotiation tips that set the stage for harmonious relationships.

I received a copy of this book and found it quite positive and refreshing. I like how the book is divided into three different parts. Part One is basically about the believers and the nonbelievers and the whole perspective. In part Two, there are the individual couple’s stories. I found this quite interesting and insightful. Part Three discusses the different issues and it is very helpful about how to deal with the different issues. It is full of helpful and positive advice. I highly recommend to all couples with different beliefs! I know that I will be sending this one to my best friend.

You can find the book at Amazon.com. You can also find it at AMACOM.

Self Disclosure: I received a free book to facilitate this feature.

 

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