With Ramadan coming to an end (and Lent just recently past), the good people at the Pew Research Center decided to do a little digging and ask around.
In the United States, 21% of adults overall say they fast for certain periods during holy times, according to a Pew Research Center survey from February. Muslim Americans are by far the most likely to say they fast for religious reasons, followed by Jewish Americans, Catholics and Black Protestants.
While the February survey includes people of all religious backgrounds, we do not have large enough samples to report on the fasting habits of smaller groups, such as Hindus, Buddhists or Orthodox Christians.
Eight-in-ten Muslim Americans say they fast, according to the February survey. We did not ask whether Muslims are fasting specifically for Ramadan, which runs from early March through early April this year. However, a 2017 Center survey found that 80% of Muslims fast for Ramadan, making it a far more common practice than other Islamic traditions like praying five times a day (42%) or attending mosque weekly (43%).
About half of Jewish Americans (49%) say they fast for certain periods during holy times, according to the February survey. And in a 2019-2020 Center survey, 56% of Jewish adults said they fasted for all or part of the previous Yom Kippur.
Yom Kippur is a day of atonement for sins. The fast traditionally entails not eating or drinking for approximately 25 hours, from sunset on the eve of Yom Kippur until after sunset the following day. Some Jews also fast at other times of the year, such as Tishah b’Av, which primarily commemorates the destruction of the first and second ancient Jewish temples in Jerusalem.
And what about Catholics, you may ask? Here:
Four-in-ten U.S. Catholics fast, according to the February survey. We didn’t ask respondents about when they fast specifically, but many Catholics around the world fast during Lent, the 40-day period leading up to Easter. Lenten sacrifices often include abstaining from eating meat on Fridays and giving up something one typically enjoys – like a favorite food, drink or pastime. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says Lent calls for giving up luxuries and practicing self-discipline. In 2015, we found that 47% of Catholics said they gave up something or did something extra for Lent in the previous year.
There’s more. Read on.
By happy coincidence (cough), I have a book coming out (cough) on this very subject. It’s being published in July. You can learn more here and it’s now available for pre-order. Just sayin’.
