I thought the whole purpose of the ritual is to help you focus on God for the length of ramadan rather than other parts of life. The olympic opt-out just smacks of putting yourself before your faith. At which point you might as well just bite the bullet and give up your faith altogether!
Except, of course, anyone who opts out of the fast still has to do something for Ramadan. Some make up the fast afterwards, some perform acts of charity – Moe Sibhi is providing 60 meals a day for the poor.( http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/22/ramadan-olympics-fasting ) One of the aims of the fast being, of course, to focus on the poor.
As a side note – while moderate religious people may be intellectually inconsistent and lukewarm, they at least are more likely to be pleasant people than Fundamentalists and the more orthodox. They pose no danger to the rights (and lives) of dissenters, are open to outside ideas and opinions, and are often more civil and calm in debating and proselytizing – though they are less likely to do either of those things than more hard-core religious.
August 1st, 2012 at 12:22 am
As opposed to the religious who are simply making it up?
August 1st, 2012 at 2:14 am
I thought the whole purpose of the ritual is to help you focus on God for the length of ramadan rather than other parts of life. The olympic opt-out just smacks of putting yourself before your faith. At which point you might as well just bite the bullet and give up your faith altogether!
August 3rd, 2012 at 2:11 am
Except, of course, anyone who opts out of the fast still has to do something for Ramadan. Some make up the fast afterwards, some perform acts of charity – Moe Sibhi is providing 60 meals a day for the poor.( http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/22/ramadan-olympics-fasting ) One of the aims of the fast being, of course, to focus on the poor.
August 14th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
As a side note – while moderate religious people may be intellectually inconsistent and lukewarm, they at least are more likely to be pleasant people than Fundamentalists and the more orthodox. They pose no danger to the rights (and lives) of dissenters, are open to outside ideas and opinions, and are often more civil and calm in debating and proselytizing – though they are less likely to do either of those things than more hard-core religious.
August 16th, 2012 at 10:02 am
First time here. I think I’m gonna like it.