Hawzah News Agency (Nebraska, us) – People of all ages, shapes and sizes arrived at the Tri-Faith Picnic at Omaha’s multi-faith campus Sunday afternoon carrying bowls of salads and trays of desserts, just as they would for any other picnic in any other place.
They gathered under giant tents and shared their potluck offerings alongside the usual picnic standards, with a twist — the hamburgers were halal, the hot dogs kosher.
And as they dined, the Jews, Muslims and Christians gathered there furthered the aims of the Tri-Faith Initiative that has brought them together: fostering mutual understanding, respect and friendship. More than 500 attended, according to an organizer’s estimate.
“I think it binds people here,” said Nizam Qassem, a member of the mosque the American Muslim Institute opened on the campus in 2017. “Wherever there are people and food, there is fun.”
Hosting this year’s event was Temple Israel, which completed its synagogue on the former golf course south of 132nd and Pacific Streets in 2013. Across a creek is the future Countryside Community Church, scheduled for completion by Easter. A large mound of dirt marks the site of a fourth future building, a tri-faith center that is to be completed by spring 2020. Earth work also is underway for a circular bridge that will link the structures.
Events such as the picnic, like the campus itself, offer people opportunities to mingle and learn about each other.
“I found out there are more similarities to share than differences to disagree about,” said Maher Abdalla, another mosque member.
The Rev. Bud Heckman, executive director of the initiative, said people involved in the effort have begun to form friendships with those from other faith communities. Studies show most people tend to stay among others like themselves.
The initiative also has begun to serve as an example to groups in other communities, said Heckman, who arrived from New York in March. The initiative recently helped sponsor a conference called Reimagining Interfaith in Washington, D.C. There, he met a group from Indiana who told him they were inspired by what the three faiths are doing in Omaha.
“You get that sort of beautiful thing,” Heckman said.
A retired teacher, she had been looking to expand the kind of bonds she formed with families over the years. She became friends with a Muslim family and now eats dinner with them every Wednesday. They have become like family to her. When her family comes to visit, they all get together.
Such experiences, she said, give her a different outlook on all of the bad things happening in the world.
“I am aware now that (things) can change,” she said, “because this has changed us.”
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