As mentioned elsewhere...

If you are no particular religion, or an atheist say, then you may feel it's the best thing to do if you marry a Muslim, or any religion really.Although I do think it's very important to fully think it through beforehand.Some people look to other religions other than Christianity because they have perhaps had a bad experience of it in early life.

My own mother went through practically every religion known to man, starting from when I was about ten. She didn't want to go to any of the meetings on her own, so hauled me along. She always felt that there had to be more to life, she needed to find a meaning.

She finally settled on a form of spiritualism, but as a result of all I experienced I became very strongly atheist. However I met some wonderful people and it made me very tolerant of all beliefs. I decided that being considered CofE was the best, as it is the most liberal of all the religions I came across.

I know quite a few people who had to convert to Catholicism or Judaism in order to marry people they loved. As one friend said, at least it enabled her to understand what on earth was going on at family events.

There was also a young woman who pulled her whole life around when she converted to Islam. She was on that recent Grayson Perry prog. where he interviewed people and then represented them with a work of art of some kind.

A friend's son did the same when he married a Muslim woman. I think her parents insisted. The children are being brought up as Muslims.

As it happens my friend is a committed Christian but he seems okay with it.

jings "born and bred" people all over the world convert to different faiths. Why is that odd? A distant relative of mine married a Muslim woman and converted. And he's South African, from Afrikaner stock.

I suppose one might marry someone from another faith and want to convert or perhaps live and work among people whose values and customs one feels an affinity with.