Ramadan isn’t going great for Shadi Hamid. Fasting in a secular city is hard. Everyone else is running around being productive and well-fed while Shadi’s feeling sluggish, hungry, and tired.  Shadi’s discouragement with Ramadan kicks off a broader conversation with Matthew Kaemingk on the struggles both Christians and Muslims face in secular cultures. Is faith *really* supposed to be this hard? Can religion ever win out when it is constantly forced to swim against the secular current? Here they discuss a controversial proposal found in both Islam and Christianity—namely, that the state should accommodate and even support our spiritual practices. 

LINKS:

The philosopher Oliver Traldi’s powerful thread on being overwhelmed by life’s choices: https://twitter.com/olivertraldi/status/1643029259185803266

Matthew Kaemingk’s article on secular spirituality: https://comment.org/issues/cracks-in-the-secular/

James Wellman’s book on conservative churches in the progressive city of Seattle: https://bookshop.org/a/65404/9780195300123

Our episodes on the caliphate and Andrew Tate:https://comment.org/podcasts/muscular-muslims-weak-christians-and-a-response-to-andrew-tate/

https://comment.org/podcasts/does-the-world-need-a-caliphate/