In Israel marriage between people of different religions is discouraged. Marriages must be approved by members of clergy, and clergy are generally reluctant to marry people of different religions. There is no civil marriage in Israel although marriages contracted outside Israel are recognized in Israel. Recognition of same sex marriages is problematic in Israel:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_same-sex_unions_in_Israel

Australia has civil marriage people who wish to get married can get married regardless of their religion or lack of it or whether they are of the same or opposite sexes.

I think the situation in Australia is democratic and fair. Clergy having a say in marriage serves to keep people of different religious backgrounds apart. In Israel not only does it keep Jews and Muslims apart it separates Jews of different religious denominations. In fact marriages performed by rabbis of Jewish denominations not approved by the state subjects those getting married to legal penalties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_in_Israel

“It remains a criminal offense for Jews in Israel to marry in weddings performed outside the state’s religious authority, and doing so can result in a jail sentence of up to two years. Hiddush (https://www.bing.com/search?q=hiddush&FORM=HDRSC1) ranked Israel as the only Western democracy that is on a par with Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and other Islamic states in relation to freedom of marriage.”

Without freedom of marriage can Israel be considered a western democracy

Dear David,

Israel is a Jewish state so of course it's
to be expected that adherence to Jewish Law
will be the norm for marriages. It follows that
marriages can be performed only under the auspices
of the religious community to which couples belong
and the marriages in each community are under the
jurisdiction of their own religious authorities.

The Israeli Interior Ministry registers marriages in
presentation of proper documentation.

Inter-faith couples can be legally married in Israel
if one of the partners converts to the religion of the
other. Also civil and interfaith and same sex marriages
entered into abroad are recognised by the state.

It all seems fair.

Dear Foxy,

I feel that Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Marxist and Muslim states are by their nature unfair. A nation to my mind to be fair should be a nation which does not represent any religious belief or any lack of such belief.

You wrote: "Inter-faith couples can be legally married in Israel
if one of the partners converts to the religion of the
other."

If one of the partners converts they are no longer an inter-faith couple. Inter-faith couples cannot be legally married in Israel.

cont'd ...

Dear David,

You asked "Can Israel be considered a Western
Democracy?"

Israel is a "Religious" Western Democracy.
And to understand Israel and its complexities
the following link explains:

http://www.link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9781137465306_4

There are few Western-style democracies where religion is
more entangled with government and society, domestic politics
as well as foreign affairs than the state of Israel.

There is no separation of synagogue and state

Foxy,

Israel is the world's only Jewish nation-state and as far as I am aware there is no constitutional separation of State and religion.

This has been wrought out of the Jewish experience and consolidation of a people that was forced to wander the world for two thousand years enduring pogrom after pogrom wherever they tried to settle because they were excluded from full participation in the societies they tried to settle in.

Their history dictates that Israel should be a Jewish nation-state with all that that entails as well as the fact that the political use of Judaism in the organisation of the nation-state provides a citizenry that shares a common cause to defend the State against the Arab world that is based on religious justification.

Also if you are talking about marriage it can become extremely complex because you open up a whole box anthropological and sociological questions and theories about marriage and kinship that one cannot understand unless one is an anthropologist or sociologist. So I suggest you and david f don't go down that road.

Dear Foxy,

I couldn't access your link.

We Jews have been persecuted in many countries because we did not identify with the religious or ethnic paradigm on which the state was based. In the United States, Australia, France and countries with a similar system, although we may not be universally liked, we are not persecuted by the state, and the state regards our ethnicity and religion as none of its business. So what we do? We found a country in which we are the top dogs rather than Buddhists, Christians, Hindus or Muslims. We imitate the goyische countries that have persecuted us rather than those wonderful countries which regard the religious beliefs or lack of such beliefs of its citizens as none of the government's business.

I support IRAC (The Israel Religious Action Center) which is the public and legal advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel. IRAC advances pluralism in Israeli society and defends the freedoms of conscience, faith and religion.

www.irac.org