The Dynamics of Filipino Interfaith Families in Bukidnon, Southern Philippines:Strategies Towards the Attainment of Everyday Peace

Abstract

This study explores the dynamics of interfaith families and examines the factors that contribute to attaining and maintaining everyday peace among religious-divided households. Dynamics involve negotiation styles and communication strategies, made tangible through religious tolerance, compromises, avoidances, and non-implementation. Using in-depth interviews of eight (8) informants who are members of interfaith households in Bukidnon, Philippines, and guided by the concepts of interfaith (Elwood, 1983), religious tolerance (Potgieter et al., 2014; Courtis & Cayton, 2019) everyday peace (Mac Ginty, 2014), and negotiation (McGuire, 2004), the data show that interfaith marriages, because they are largely characterized by religious differences, are spaces where the routinized, everyday encounters in marriages can reflect everyday peace. Interfaith couples need not adhere to institutional and communal structures to navigate the complexities of their marriages. Rather, it is through the conscious and habitual use of negotiation styles, the efforts to show religious tolerance, and the practice of positive communication that interfaith families learn to get by and experience harmonious cohabitation. The results of the study may also reflect the dynamics of other interfaith couples in other localities in the Philippines.