Coptic Christians Starve American Exchange Student
Coptic Christians Starve American Exchange Student
HALLOWELL, Maine - Jonathan McCullum was in excellent health at 155 pounds when he left last summer to spend the school year as an exchange student in Egypt.
But when he returned home to Maine just four months later, the 5-foot-9 teenager weighed a mere 97 pounds and was so weak that he struggled to carry his baggage or climb a flight of stairs. Doctors said he was at risk of a heart attack.
McCullum says he was denied sufficient food while staying with a family of Coptic Christians, who fast for more than 200 days a year, a regimen unmatched by other Christians.
Talk about a nightmare. The kid got to see the world alright–see what it was like to live with a religious minority even more extremist than the Egyptian Islamic majority. What is it with this fasting obsession?? I know of friends of friends who are right now fasting for Lent. What possible purpose (other than severe malnutrition and weight loss) could this serve?
Comments (4 comments)
Burk / February 28th, 2008, 12:10 pm / #1
It serves the purpose of being a mind-altering experience. Some cultures take peyote, some fast. People appear to think that ratcheting up the intensity of spiritual emotions and visions makes the spiritual world real-er than before. We are a funny species, are we not?
BlackSun / February 28th, 2008, 12:22 pm / #2
Burk,
I can relate to mind-altering experiences. I’ve had a few myself. And I would never try to tell someone they should be prohibited from starving themselves if they so desire. I’m a champion of individual freedom. But I’m also going to tell that person what I think about what they are doing–that it flies in the face of any definition of rational self-care.
In the situation described, a kid in a strange country chose not to remove himself, fearing an even worse fate. The host family reneged on their obligations to feed him and used their religion to justify it. That’s what galls me. Then their obvious misrepresentations in the article demonstrate their severe lack of morality. What is religion supposed to provide to followers, if not a moral compass? All that fasting doesn’t seem to have gained them any compassion or insight, so what’s the goal?
There may be health reasons for purgative fasting, which might last from 1-3 days. A week if you’re really going all out. But 40-day Lenten fasts or Coptic-style slow deprivation are just plain extreme. My position is: Harm yourself if you wish, but don’t pretend there’s something noble about it.
Aaron Kinney / March 26th, 2008, 9:24 am / #3
The funny part is that too much fasting is more dangerous to your health than too much eating LOL
Patricia Backora / May 15th, 2008, 7:31 am / #4
Fasting is an old Jewish custom. God ordered only ONE regular fast day per year, for Jews only, the Day of Atonement. Several other fasts were added to the Jewish calendar BY MEN, not by God.Fasting is not mentioned before Moses, giver of the Law. It was the Pharisees who started the custom of regular weekly fasts. When Jesus commented on fasting, he was addressing Jews who habitually did it anyway and cautioned against hypocrisy in this practice. NOT ONE verse in the epistles (doctrinal letters to the churches) commands fasting or even recommends it for growth in holiness. I Thessalonians chapter 5 contains a long list of things Christians are required to do. Fasting is conspicuous by its absence. Because we live under a Covenant based on grace, not works, I don’t think fasting is important unless it “just happens” as a byproduct of an extended prayer session. Suffering to gain God’s approval is pagan, like when the priests of Baal cut themselves to appease their own god (I Kings 18:26-28)
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