40-Hour FAST

WHY FAST?

Fasting is a transforming act – it has the moral power to bring about political change worthy of our state.”
- Bishop Howard Hubbard, Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and Co-Chair of the Labor-Religion Coalition.

“Muslims fast from daybreak until dusk during the entire month of Ramadan. Denial of sustenance is one way Muslims share a connection to those who suffer from hunger and poverty.”
- Imam Djafer Sebkhaoui

“The 40-hour fast in New York is appropriate because workers… are hungering for economic & social justice, and our fasting is a manifestation of our identity with their cause.”
- Rabbi Balfour Brickner

The Labor-Religion Coalition’s 40 Hour FAST is both individual and communal, private and public. While participants experience the hunger pains brought on by going without solid food for one or more meals, they are asked to consider the sacrifice of low-wage workers. Fasters hunger for an America that promotes opportunity for all.

WHY 40 HOURS?

The number 40 has special significance in both religious and labor traditions. The Hebrew Scriptures record that Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Sinai when receiving the Law from God; the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years; the great flood in the story of Noah lasted 40 days and 40 nights. For Christians, the 40 days of Lent are a time of sacrifice, prayer and action rooted in Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert. The US labor movement, after many years of sacrifice and struggle, gained a 40-hour work-week for most workers.

OUR MOST RECENT FAST

Since 1996 the Labor-Religion Coalition's 40-Hour FAST has invited prayer, reflection, education and action on ethical issues of importance to New Yorkers. See below to learn more about the issues of the most recent FAST and see a listing of past FAST issues.

Welcoming the Stranger: Prophetic Voices for Immigrant Rights— 2008

Let the values of our faiths lead the way to justice for immigrants and all workers

What can we do for immigrant worker justice? Click here.

News from the 2008 FAST, March 4-6, 2008

FAST Archives

"Let justice surge like water and goodness like an unfailing stream." Amos 5:24—2007

America's Broken Promise—2006

Health Care for All: The Moral Prescription—2005

Remembering our Betrayed Workers—2004

Replacing Greed with Justice—2003

Fast for the Dignity of All—2002

Last Updated:07/10/2008
© New York State Labor-Religion Coalition