Religious Fasting
Today, March 11th, 2024, is the first day of Ramadan, and the billions of physically able Muslims worldwide will observe the yearly ritual. This ritual teaches self-control, strengthens faith, piety, and mindfulness of God’s blessings, seeks forgiveness of sins, and reminds Muslims of the plight of those who do not have food, water, and shelter.
Jews who are physically able to fast during Yom Kippur — the annual Jewish Day of Atonement and the holiest day on the Jewish calendar are allowed to do so. Yom Kippur occurs shortly after Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
Christians and Catholics will abstain from indulgences of their choice for forty days, beginning Ash Wednesday until Good Friday, Easter Weekend. Many faiths abstain from indulgences during this period and will only eat fish on Fridays.
All religions celebrate the end of fasting by consuming copious amounts of food, bordering on one of the seven deadly sins, gluttony, just like Thanksgiving Day.
Uniquely, with so many similarities, with several hundreds of years of wars and dislikes between religions, it only reveals to me how arrogantly ignorant humans can be.
