Unless both parties are willing to incorporate parts of both religions it won't work. If either party demands that the other partner give up all ties to their religious upbringing the marriage is headed for trouble and eventually divorce. I know I've been there. Chelsea may be so in love that she thinks she can give up all ties to her Christian upbringing but she will find out she is very wrong. Unless he is willing to bend a little (Star of David on a Christmas tree for instance) it will end in divorce.

Marilyn, quite frankly I think your broad stroked opinion is flat out wrong. My wife and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary yesterday. I was raised Jewish and she was raised Christian. We had a ceremony presided by a Jewish cantor. We never had a Christmas tree or lights or an Easter egg hunt. We decided ahead of time that any children we had would be converted to Judaism. These were things we talked about ahead of time. We share Christian holidays with her family and Jewish holidays with mine. It works. I know. I've been there and continue to exist within it.

I don't care what religion you are. If you don't communicate, nothing works.

@Mich:
You are indeed a Man's Man.
why not allow your children to grow up as Christians/Jews and let them choose instead of converting them to Judaism because Mom is Christian?
Since Jewish faith is confirmed by the Mother's faith, why not allow them to grow up as Christians. What is wrong with being a Christian?

Chelsea will probably have no choice but to convert her children to Judaism.

Mitch's system works because, apparently, there is no compromise. Mitch gets everything. Sure, they show up for Holiday dinners with the in-laws, but other than that, Jesus Christ has no place in his home.
It's not all his fault though. For his wife to agree to this would mean that she doesn't really believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God. No true Believer - committed Christian - could possibly agree to their children being raised without Jesus Christ, because a Believer believes that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

So Mitch's system works because there really isn't any "interfaith" going on. His home is Jewish.

The author is correct. It's not possible for true believers of two different faiths to inter-marry and have the marriage succeed. If the marriage does succeed, at least one of the participants isn't a believer in the faith he/she was raised in.

Lisa,

Mitch's note doesn't (in fact, can not) tell us the whole story. But. let's assume:

-Mitch and his wife met and fell in love

-Before they married, they discussed the place faith would have in their life together, including that of any children they might have

-They agreed that any children would be raised as Jews (admittedly, we don't have Mitch's wife's perspective on any of this, but we presume she was accepting of this)

-They are raising those children today with a strong religious tradition, that, apparently, includes a modicum of tolerance for other traditions

-They have a healthy relationship with their extended families

-Their children, when they reach adulthood, will have the advantage of solid religious education and tradition when they make adult decisions as to the place faith has in their lives

-Theirs is a solid, loving home, free of "sectarian strife"

I see nothing wrong in this. Many other families (many of them nominally "Christian") have much less.

Why must you cast this life in such darkness?

The most important thing to keep in mind here is, when Christ said "no one comes to the Father except through Me" He was speaking to Jewish people. Thanks.

@BankStreet:
You sound like a Wahabi from Saudi Arabia.
Why cannot the children be Christian and have great relations with their Jewish relatives on their father's side. Why should they convert?
Why not have the man convert to Christianity ? Why this hypocrisy and male domination typical of all American males.
@Clay:
You can get to God through whoever you believe in and in whatever religion you are born by God's will. Jesus does not have a monopoly over Hindus, Budhsist, Jews and Moslems. However, anyone of these can convert if Christianity appeals to them.
In India thousands of Untouchables ( Low caste Hindus who are condemned to a life of cleaning the "Soil of the night" of other human beings--read Fecal matter--are converting to Catholicism to the annoyance of majority Hindus. There conversion is understandable.
Similarly many Muslims fed up with Wahhabi brand of Islam have embraced Christianity.
I do not think you can easily convert to Judaism . I think you have to be born to a Jewish mother.
In any case salvation is through whoever you believe in and not limited to Jesus who is also a prophet of the Muslims and is mentioned in the Quran doing all the the things mentioned in Bible. The only difference is that in the Quran God raises him to heaven and does not refer to him as his son.
I think Bill Clinton should put his foot down and have the young man convert to Christianity.

concernedcitizen,

Likening my "take" on Mitch and his wife's decision to that of a Wahhabi is ludicrous. Again, not knowing the full story, my presumption was that this was a mutually arrived-at point.

The answer to your questions, "Why cannot the children be Christian and have great relations with their Jewish relatives on their father's side. Why should they convert?
Why not have the man convert to Christianity ?" is simple.

That was not their decision. You are not happy with their decision. I suspect they don't care about your opinion of this.

I really don't think we can accuse Mitch of male chauvinism or religious arrogance, given the information he provided. The presumptions I made assumed a loving, mutually respectful discussion between two adults contemplating a life together (but, then again, I am an optimist).

Trump had his daughter married off and converted by an orthodox (but very liberal) Jewish Rabbi. The real question is will there be any Jewish wedding music?

Lisa posted-"It's not possible for true believers of two different faiths to inter-marry and have the marriage succeed"

Absolutely right, Lisa, because true believers would be fighting over the knife to kill each other, as demonstrated all over the world. More and more reason to remove the wool from the eyes of the people and end this sham of religion!

Trump had his daughter married off and converted by an orthodox (but very liberal) Jewish Rabbi. The real question is will there be any Jewish wedding music?-that's not going to be a big deal i think. :) I just wonder if they got to have cool invitations like 50th anniversary invitations.

Dan, That's actually not accurate. Latest reports say Chelsea never converted. I don't think any Jewish music was played like:
www.livejewishmusic.com