WASHINGTON — Fifteen years ago, Krista Bremer was a Southern California surfer girl, raised in a secular middle class family. When she became running partners with Ismail, a Muslim man from a small fishing village in Libya, her life turned upside down. Shortly after, the two got married.

Plenty of couples merge their lives and cultures when they marry, but few are as extreme as Bremer’s union.

“Whether we marry someone from the other side of the world