Susan Katz Miller's Blog, page 26

My Easter with Christians, Jews and Muslims

We celebrated Easter this year with our community of Christian and Jewish interfaith families. Our minister started off by pointing out that Easter is not in the Bible, and that our holiday traditions make reference to ancient goddesses, and the fertility rites of spring. She then gathered the children together and talked to them about the Buddhist metaphor of a cup of tea representing the comforting memories of life after the tea bag (or body) is gone. She’s not your typical minister.

Next, o...

Interfaith Marriage in America: Past and Future

In case you missed it, here’s my most recent Huffington Post column…

Many books have characterized interfaith marriage as a challenge, a risk, a threat, or worse. Georgetown University’s Erika B. Seamon bring a new perspective to the topic in her recent book Interfaith Marriage in America: The Transformation of Religion and Christianity, part of a series entitled “Christianities of the World.” This important academic work chronicles the history of intermarriage, and the effects of contemporary...

Passover and Easter in Interfaith Families Communities

This time of year, many interfaith family communities sponsor events for Passover, and for Easter. Below, I round up links for those who are seeking out ways to celebrate as interfaith families. Some of these events are designed to be educational and are often held before the actual holidays: a model Seder to teach the meaning behind the various rituals and readings, or a discussion of the various perspectives on Easter within interfaith families. Other events are celebrations, often identica...

Being Both: The Book Cover

I am posting a sneak peek at the gorgeous cover of my book, Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family, which will be published by Beacon Press on October 22, 2013. The designers at Beacon Press worked with metaphors from the book to come up with an abstract cover that communicates the warmth and creative synergy of successful interfaith families. I love the translucence, the watercolor paper texture, the handmade feel, and the mystery of it.

The manuscript for Being Both is...

Successful Interfaith Marriage: In a Blizzard

I spent a lot of time worrying this week about my pioneering interfaith parents (88 and 82) braving the New England blizzard. More than two feet of snow covered their home, the house I grew up in. But miraculously, the power and heat stayed on. My mother, an artist, finds the snow thrilling, gorgeous. As the storm approached, I heard excitement, not fear, in her voice. I suppose there’s a reason she loves a February snowstorm.

Fifty-three years ago today, my parents got married in my mother’s...

Breakthrough! Interfaith Families, Interfaith Engagement

For years now, I have been advocating for interfaith families to be included in interfaith activism and conversation. Since 9/11, an inspiring interfaith movement has been growing, including interfaith activism on campuses. And just in the past couple of years, atheists and agnostics and secular humanists have been welcomed by many of these interfaith organizations, in recognition of the growth of these communities, and the idea that you do not have to have a faith to want to join the interfa...

Inauguration: Celebrating President Barack Obama and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

Inauguration 2009, copyright Susan Katz Miller

Four years ago this week, we awoke before dawn, bundled our children into layers of clothing, and walked from our house to the Metro station. We wedged our family onto a subway car with throngs of neighbors and tourists, and emerged in downtown Washington DC, just as the sky began to turn pink. As we sleep-walked past the grand Constitution Hall heading towards the Washington Monument, I told my children how the Daughters of the American Revolutio...