Being Both - Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family

Zusatztext 72121081 Informationen zum Autor Susan Katz Miller is a former reporter for Newsweek and New Scientist . She lives with her interfaith family outside Washington, DC. Klappentext A book on the growing number of interfaith families raising children in two religions Susan Katz Miller grew up with a Jewish father and Christian mother! and was raised Jewish. Now in an interfaith marriage herself! she is one of the growing number of Americans who are boldly electing to raise children with both faiths! rather than in one religion or the other (or without religion). In Being Both! Miller draws on original surveys and interviews with parents! students! teachers! and clergy! as well as on her own journey! to chronicle this controversial grassroots movement. Almost a third of all married Americans have a spouse from another religion! and there are now more children in Christian-Jewish interfaith families than in families with two Jewish parents. Across the country! many of these families are challenging the traditional idea that they must choose one religion. In some cities! more interfaith couples are raising children with "both" than Jewish-only. What does this mean for these families! for these children! and for religious institutions? Miller argues that there are distinct benefits for families who reject the false choice of "either/or" and instead embrace the synergy of being both. Reporting on hundreds of parents and children who celebrate two religions! she documents why couples make this choice! and how children appreciate dual-faith education. But often families who choose both have trouble finding supportive clergy and community. To that end! Miller includes advice and resources for interfaith families planning baby-welcoming and coming-of-age ceremonies! and seeking to find or form interfaith education programs. She also addresses the difficulties that interfaith families can encounter! wrestling with spiritual questions ("Will our children believe in God?") and challenges ("How do we talk about Jesus?"). And finally! looking beyond Judaism and Christianity! Being Both provides the first glimpse of the next interfaith wave: intermarried Muslim! Hindu and Buddhist couples raising children in two religions. Being Both is at once a rousing declaration of the benefits of celebrating two religions! and a blueprint for interfaith families who are seeking guidance and community support. INTRODUCTION The Kaleidoscope EACH YEAR, MY EXTENDED clan gathers for a huge Passover seder in Florida. My eighty-eight-year-old father presides over the ritual meal, leading us through the prayers and songs of religious freedom. The family at the table includes believers, seekers, and secularists, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, and those who claim interfaith identity. A Jewish nephew who is about to become a bar mitzvah and a Catholic nephew who just received First Communion compete with my interfaith son to find the traditional hidden matzoh. We are a joyous, motley crew, intent on celebrating together.   In twenty-first-century America, we live in a kaleidoscope of religious identities: complex, swirling patterns of faith, spirituality, heritage, and practice. Many of us attend more than one place of worship. We change our religions more than once in a lifetime. We may believe in God or not but still seek spiritual experience inside and outside of churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples. And we are marrying across traditional lines of race, ethnicity, gender, and religion.   In the midst of this religious flux and flow, interfaith couples are making a new and controversial choice: raising children with both family religions. As an interfaith child and an interfaith parent, I feel exhilarated by this new fluidity, empowered by the transition away from restrictive either/or identity l...

Product details

• Authors: Susan Katz Miller, Miller, Susan Katz Miller
• Publisher: BEACON PRESS
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 22.10.2013
• EAN: 9780807013199
• ISBN: 978-0-8070-1319-9
• No. of pages: 264
• Dimensions: 147 mm x 221 mm x 25 mm
• Subject: Guides > Self-help, everyday life > Family