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Should the Olympics be adjusted for Ramadan?

The 2012 Summer Olympics will be right in the middle of the Islamic fasting period Ramadan. This will affect about 3,000 athletes practicing Islam. Proponents have also argued it will affect people hoping to travel to London to watch the games. Some Muslims, however, say the athletes can train to cope with the fasting, and organisers of the event said they had to take lots of things into account and this time period was the best. What do you think?

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Answer #1

Well there’s two sides to this. On the one hand, it is kinda a pain to schedule stuff around muslim events because they work on a lunar calendar which means nothing is ever the same from year to year. On the other hand, would an event ever be scheduled over christmas or any other major christian celebration or christian event, of course not. Given the hostilities with the muslim world, would this be a thoughtful gesture and probably a smart idea, yes. Is it going to happen, probably not.

Answer #2

No, I do not think any sporting events should be re-sheduled for any religious reasons whatsoever. If we avoided Ramadan, why not Eid, and Passover, and Hannukah, and Lent, and Advent, and Diwali, ….. and ….. etc? As well !

If the Olympics had to avoid all those and the religious festivities observed by the Seikhs and Buddhists, …. and … (all the other mainstream and oddball religions) well - football would feel obliged to follow suit, and baseball and hockey, …. and …. Strewth, nothing would ever get done.

No in my opinion the individual should have an individual choice of conscience regarding how they individually observe their religious obligations, but nobody and no religion should expect the rest of the world with all its diversity to kow-tow to them as well.

– Regards - Majikthise.

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