Multifaith families navigate the differences in their religions throughout the year, but during the Christmas season, one of the holiest times of year for Christians, many people look for the things they have in common.

More than a quarter of Americans — 27 percent — are married or living with a partner in religiously mixed relationships, according to a study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. The 2008 study is based on interviews with more than 35,000 American adults. When different Protestant faiths are considered, the number of couples in religiously mixed relationships jumps to 37 percent.

Sandra Yocum, chair of religious studies at the University of Dayton, said the number of interfaith families has increased dramatically over the last 30 years due partly to increased interaction between people of various religions, ease of travel and the media.

Yocum, who is in her 50s, has personal experience with multifaith families. Her mother is Catholic and her father is Methodist. She said it was it was a big deal when the two of them married. Their wedding took place in the rectory instead of the church.

Today such unions are commonplace, she said.

About 22 percent of Catholics are married to non-Catholics, according to the Pew study that’s based on interviews with more than 35,000 adults.

About 47 percent of Jews married between 1996 and 2001 were married to non-Jews, according to the National Jewish Population Survey updated in 2004. It is important that family members have open dialogues about how faith traditions will be incorporated, Yocum said.

She also said that multifaith families should have a sense of curiosity about the other’s faith and try to gain an understanding of it.

That’s what Kanita Nelson, who is Christian, and her son Aasim Nelson and his daughter Hasna Nelson, both Muslims have tried to do.

With her hair covered by a hijab or scarf in recognition of her Islamic faith, Hasna Nelson found herself on “green bean duty” Tuesday at her grandmother’s church.

The 8-year-old poured the vegetables into a large clear bowl after her grandmother and father opened can after can.

The beans are part of the 103 Christmas meals Omega Baptist Church members plan to deliver today to needy families.

“This is my family,” said Kanita Nelson, a retired registered nurse, who shares a home in Dayton with her son and granddaughter.

Aasim Nelson said his faith has never interfered with his participation in Christian holidays celebrated by his family.

Aasim, also the father of a 4-year-old son, who’s also being raised in the Islamic faith, converted to Islam from Christianity 21 years ago following a quest to find answers to life’s questions.

He said his mother respected his decision, and was pleased that he sought answers from God.

“There is so much common ground and so few differences,” the 46-year-old said. “She asked questions. She attended some of our functions. With that, she discovered some of the common ground.”

Kanita Nelson, 64, tried to read the Quran, Islam’s central religious text, and questioned her son about things she did not understand.

She said her son — a counselor at a homeless shelter — shares her belief in the importance of service to others and God.

“If people focus their lives on God, they will walk as upright people no matter what our backgrounds are,” she said.

Katina plays an audio version of the Quran for her granddaughter because she knows Hasna likes it.

She does not hide her own religious beliefs from the child.

“She (Hasna) knows I walk around the house praising the Lord,” Kanita Nelson said.

Things seem to work themselves out for the holidays.

Like Aasim and Hasna, many in the Nelson family don’t eat pork for various reasons. Kanita’s brother plans to cook lamb for Christmas dinner.

Kanita said she doesn’t give her son’s children Christmas gifts. Instead she concentrates on birthdays and other occasions.

She said she’s not big on the commercialization of Christmas anyway.

“As far as I am concerned, every day is a day that the Lord has made,” she said. “Christmas is manmade anyway with all the bling bling,” she added

Katina Nelson said she would never “trick” her granddaughter in doing something that would be counter to the religious values Aasim is trying to instill in her.

To that end, Aasim credits his mother for giving him a religious base.

“She kept my sister and I God-centered and that is something that I appreciate,” he said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2384 or arobinson@coxohio.com.