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Editor's note:
Intermittent fasting – eating normally on select days of the week and fasting on others – has become quite a fad. It's common to see health-related websites and publications dole out tips on how to do intermittent fasting.
Fasting generally has its origins in religious traditions. As someone who grew up in a Jain household – a member of an ancient Indian religion with an emphasis on nonviolence and asceticism – I saw my mother and grandmother take on fasts that lasted at least 36 hours. These fasts were not about just abstaining from food or water, but also releasing ill will against any living being. Often, observing silence was part of this practice.
As scholar Iqbal Akhtar explains this week, religious fasting is much more than food deprivation. The practice can "allow the mind to enter new states of awareness and understanding," he writes, and secular fasters can “tap into its joy” and “uncover new ways of being.”
Religion News
A birthday gift: Israeli woman donates kidney to Gaza boy
An Israeli woman has donated a kidney that ended up going to a 3-year-old Palestinian boy from the Gaza Strip. By Laurie Kellman/The Associated Press
Hundreds arrested at Capitol while protesting for voting rights, minimum wage
Monday's action on the Hill constituted one of the largest mass-arrest nonviolent protests at the Capitol in recent memory. By Jack Jenkins/Religion News Service
Disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy during a wedding reception in Massachusetts in 1974. By Alanna Durkin Richer/The Associated Press
Study finds the American mosque increasingly a melting pot of Islamic traditions
The report, conducted every 10 years, found American Sunni mosques are blending various schools of Islamic jurisprudence or madhabs. By Joseph Hammond/Religion News Service
For US teen Buddhist lama, it’s faith, school, football
Jalue Dorje grew up in Minneapolis suburb, loving football, Pokémon, rap music. He’s also believed to be the reincarnation of a Tibetan Buddhist lama. After high school, he’ll join a monastery in foothills of Himalayas. By Luis Andres Henao/The Associated Press
Commentary and Analysis
An article that used geolocation data to place a priest at gay bars raises questions over journalistic ethics, and shines a light on the Catholic media landscape. By Peter Cajka for The Conversation
The abortion rights debate has moved on from freedom to choose – it is now about having available options, a bioethicist writes. By Elizabeth Lanphier for The Conversation
Kondo describes aspects of her spiritual brand as inspired by Shinto, but the ideal KonMari lifestyle is presented as one in which we adopt and adapt whatever practices 'feel right.' By Kaitlyn Ugoretz/Religion News Service
Greek actress Xanthi Georgiou, playing the role of the High Priestess, holds up the torch during the flame lighting ceremony at the closed Ancient Olympia site, birthplace of the ancient Olympics in southern Greece, Thursday, March 12, 2020. Greek Olympic officials are holding a pared-down flame-lighting ceremony for the Tokyo Games due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
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- This Week in Religion is a publication of the Global Religion Journalism Initiative, a collaboration among the Religion News Service, The Associated Press and The Conversation U.S.
- The three news organizations work to improve general understanding and analyze the significance of developments in the world of faith.
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