Good point. I think those particular passages are helpful. They would be appropriate ‘checks’ to have right in the forefront of the mind and heart of any Christian engaging in some way in the act we are discussing.

“Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other” (Matt 6:24).”
-Isn’t this a warning against greed for wealth?

My main point:

Concerning this issue, I think it is also helpful to think about the fast contextually. As a former missionary to Muslims, many Muslims have a false perception of Christianity based on skewed pictures painted by their Imams or non-Western media. One such picture is a sluggish spirituality associated with Christianity. As compared to their Imams, Christians (and especially missionaries) are spiritually lazy by not observing a stringent religious lifestyle. Christians who observe Ramadan in a Christo-centric way enhance one’s witness. Disregarding such spiritual discipline is seen as further confirmation that Christians do not truly seek religious truth.

A description of Ramadan reads: “During Ramaḍān, Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils, and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds.” Christian missionaries consistently utilize this month to debunk the aforementioned perception of sluggish spirituality as well as fasting to honor Christ and pray for their friends’ salvation. What a wonderful opportunity to redefine this ritual in a Christ-honoring way! What an opportunity to tell our Muslim friends that they cannot “purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds” and that we are praying that they will have true purity! Within the contextual argument, I also find it compelling that most converts from Islam that I know continue to follow this practice for this reason.

A ritual such as Ramadan obviously can be anti-Christian (such as William Carey’s encounters with Sati/Suttee and infant sacrifice), but not all such practices are ungodly. It is like Paul redefining a “good” attempt at religiousity in Acts 17, or the Christian holiday of Easter (and its links to the Jewish Passover as well as redefining an already existent religious practice in the Hellenistic world), or the Anglicans and Lutherans redefining (BUT not completely discarding) received Catholic ritual.

There is nothing wrong with fasting during this month and I tell you, I am surely not going to NOT fast just because non-believers carry out a similar religious practice…where would that take us?

I guess what matters more than whether or not other Muslims thought he was compromising or if you thought he wasn’t is this: what does his god think about it? Now, since his is a false religion and false god, that question doesn’t apply. But if we come back to applying it to Christianity, it doesn’t really matter what you or I think about someone’s fast, what God thinks is most important. And, based on the Bible, we would be remiss not to conclude that messing around with other religions is hazardous ground (people who did so in the OT tended to get smitten, and not with love).

I don’t think you and I disagree necessarily, we just are leaning in slightly different directions. Like me arguing that something is brass-colored while you claim it is bronze…

It doesn’t matter. I am making my case from a Christian viewpoint, not a Muslim viewpoint. Obviously, they are different. For instance, I don’t think any Christians are calling for McLaren’s throat because of this. What I said was that I would not assume he was compromising his Muslim faith. At any rate, I hope you can appreciate the point of my little ‘turnabout’ example, your observation related to the Muslim viewpoint of such a scenario notwithstanding.

I can think of a few millions Muslims who would probably disagree with you and slit his throat for doing so…

Hmmm… are non-Christians compromising their ‘secular faith’ when they participate in practices related to historically Christian festivals.

Perhaps this is all a bit of a tempest in a teacup, for if we think that any Christian choosing to ‘fast during Ramadan with Muslims’ automatically means that they are observing Ramadan in its essence, then I’m sure an orthodox Muslim would be quick to correct us. One is either a Muslim, truly observing Ramadan in it’s essence and fullness (which would obviously be in contradiction to Christian faith), or one is not.

In this sense I agree with the concerns of Larson and Wilson (the only two broad objectors from the CT piece).

For example, if a Muslim neighbor chose to ‘join me’ in my Lenten fast next spring, perhaps because of our friendship and because he could find value in a fast related to introspection, repentance and a sort of soulish ‘spring cleaning,’ that would not make him a Christian. He would not be observing Lent as a Christian, or even in a truly Christian manner. And I wouldn’t assume that he would be compromising his Muslim faith, inasmuch as he would not be participating in the fullness and essence of a true Lenten fast. And yet, we could still rightly say that he was ‘fasting during Lent with a Christian.’

I really appreciate your comments. You are making well the point I wanted to make with my first post!

Question: do you all think that it is overstepping a boundary to say that there is a cultural aspect to many religious practices and that it might be possible to separate the culture from the religion, then the sin from the culture? Many Christians, for example, now practice yoga–whose roots are found in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism–and simply do not participate in the spiritual aspect of it. Certainly Ramadan is inextricably tied to the religion of Islam, but over time, do you see it possibly evolving into a practice that is no longer so closely identified with Allah (much like Americans celebrating Christmas, or Halloween)? If that were to be the case, would the argument still stand that Christians cannot casually align themselves with it, even in an expressly Christ-centered way? I’m not offering an opinion; it’s just something I’ve wondered.