Legality and Legal Consequences of Interfaith Marriage from a Juridical and Sociological Perspective in Indonesia

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-531-7_39How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Marriage; Interfaith; Legality; Legal Sanctions

Abstract

Law Number 1 of 1974 on Marriage does not automatically provide a comprehensive solution as a regulation governing marriage issues in Indonesia. One of the ongoing issues in marriage is interfaith marriage, which remains controversial in society. The research problem addressed in this study is how the legality of interfaith marriage is in Indonesia and what the legal consequences and social dynamics arising from interfaith marriage are for the couple, their children, and their social environment. This research employs a juridical-sociological approach. The type of data used is qualitative. The nature of the research is descriptive-analytical, comparing certain phenomena, thus qualifying as a comparative study. The data sources are obtained from secondary materials using library research methods. After data collection, the data are analyzed qualitatively, and conclusions are drawn deductively. The legality of interfaith marriage in Indonesia is quite complex and controversial. According to Law Number 1 of 1974 on Marriage, a marriage is considered legally valid if conducted according to the respective laws of the religions and beliefs of the parties involved. This is often interpreted to mean that both parties must share the same religion. The Constitutional Court Decision No. 68/PUU-XII/2014 did not change this, so many interfaith couples face obstacles in legally marrying in Indonesia. As an alternative, some couples choose to marry abroad or temporarily convert religions to meet legal requirements before returning to their original beliefs after marriage. The legal consequence of interfaith marriage conducted through a court ruling in Indonesia is that the marriage can be considered legally valid and recorded at the Civil Registry Office. This court procedure functions as a juridical bypass to obtain legal recognition. This provides clear legal status for the couple, including recognition of civil rights, administrative rights, and other social rights, such as inheritance rights, family document processing, and the legal status of children born from the marriage. A court ruling thus becomes a necessary solution for interfaith couples to obtain legal recognition of their marriage in Indonesia.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Said Rizal
AU  - Rizki Rizki
AU  - Elvira Fitriyani Pakpahan
AU  - Roswita Sitompul
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/01/03
TI  - Legality and Legal Consequences of Interfaith Marriage from a Juridical and Sociological Perspective in Indonesia
BT  - Proceedings of the 1st International Forum on Psychology, Law, and Education (IFPLE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 349
EP  - 360
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-531-7_39
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-531-7_39
ID  - Rizal2026
ER  -