Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Ann Thariani grew up Lutheran in Nebraska. Kumy Thariani grew up Muslim in Pakistan.
Their own children began growing up without belonging to any religious group, then found a faith home at Second Unitarian Church in west Omaha.
"I realized our kids were missing out," Ann Thariani said. "I missed the spiritual connection for my kids with other kids."
She joined a Unitarian Church with the couple's three children. Because of his parents, Kumy Thariani did not join himself, but participates in church social functions and has formed friendships with members.
Their approach is one of myriad paths taken by people in a growing American group: multifaith families.
Twenty-seven percent of married people were in religiously mixed marriages in 2007, when the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted a survey that provides the most recent, reliable data on the topic. If marriages between people of different Protestant denominations are included, the number rises to 37 percent.
That raises lots of opportunities for people of different faiths to learn about one another, but also can present relationship challenges, especially when deciding how to raise the kids. Some researchers have found higher rates of divorce among religiously mixed marriages.
Maybe that's why leaders of Omaha's Project Interfaith chose the topic for the first installment of its new parenting series. Hoping to help parents research and talk about issues, the nonprofit group has organized a panel discussion, "All in the Family: Having Healthy Relations in Multifaith and Interfaith Families."
It's scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at First United Methodist Church, 7020 Cass St. Admission is $5 for students and $10 for others. Free child care is available. People are asked to register online here.
The Tharianis are one of four couples scheduled on the panel, which includes a Catholic/Lutheran pair, as well as Jews and Muslims. Collectively, the panel represents several paths people take. Some choose for children the religion in which one parent was raised. Others expose their children to both. Some do neither, or choose a different religion.
Ann Thariani missed belonging to a church herself, not only for her children.
"Growing up, my church was really important to us; the people were really important," she said. "I just didn't buy into all the rest of it."
She and Kumy Thariani met as students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They were married 27 years ago in Pakistan. Their children are now 24, 16 and 13 years old.
"When we were dating, the whole religion thing was not an issue," she said. "We got married in Pakistan and we lived in Pakistan for the first five years. It was important to Kumy's family that we do things in a traditional way."
She chose to convert to Islam.
"It wasn't a compulsion," she said. She was attracted to elements of Islam.
She practiced the faith for a while. Her husband had not been a very religious person. After they moved to Omaha and their children began to grow up, Ann felt more keenly that something was missing from their lives. A niece who belonged to a Unitarian church suggested attending.
The Tharianis' children — Ali, Samir and Maya — have been involved in Sunday school and youth groups. Kumy Thariani participates in men's group activities.
"My oldest son was very active in the youth group," Ann Thariani said. "It really provided a good environment for him, particularly in the middle school years."
She wanted, she said, for her children "to be in an environment where they would learn to look up, see the world and understand that they have something to offer ... that they have something to offer the community, that the world has needs, and they can make a difference."
Contact the writer:
402-444-1057, christopher.burbach@owh.com
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