Description of Family Communication Patterns in Decision-Making on Interfaith Marriages : A Case Study in Indonesia

Every human being has a social urge to seek and form an association, to communicate and build a commitment with other human beings. That encouragement is the reason why every humans form a family. In the family there is a common belief and becomes the basis for marriage. A marriage that is justified according to religion and marriage law. Based on this background, the focus of this research is the religious norms, communication pattern, interpersonal relations, and social penetration. This research uses the qualitative method with descriptive research methods. The data collection techniques, are obtained through the interviews, observations, and literature studies. The unit of analysis is the informant who is the source of information and considered as a key informant. With the criteria, couples who are interfaith married, the couples who do interfaith marriages not because they get coercion from anyone, have a long marriage and the couples who do interfaith marriages based on their own desires. The key informant is the married couples who do interfaith marriages (the three of couples who are interfaith married) and from the parents side, the informants is the fathers of each married couple who are interfaith married, and as additional informants, the informant who are considered to understand religious views on the phenomenon of interfaith marriage, and the informant consists of someone who is a Priest for Catholic religion and a Chaplain for Islam religion. So, the total number of informants who will be the source of the data in this research was 14 people. The research locations in Kujan Village, Lamandau District, Central Borneo Indonesia. The results of the study, it was obtained from the both of parents and the married couples. The main factor why the decision to marry interfaith is taken by both parties based on an effective system of interpersonal communication that has been established between of the two sides of the family. In every religious teaching and according to marriage law, interfaith marriages are not justified. This was initially contradicted by both sides of the family, firm belief in the faith of every parent in embracing their respective religions and concerns about the conflicts that will arise later, from the surrounding environment and the conflicts that will arise in the future when the couple has a children, this was felt by every couple who are interfaith marriage. But, with the establishment of good interpersonal communication between each family and married couples, so the description of family communication patterns in decision-making on interfaith marriages is formed.