For Muslims, who account for 2% of New York City residents, Ramadan is a time to fast, reflect and get closer to God.  

“New York is a very transient city. It’s very easy to be alone and Ramadan is a time for people to be with each other,” Imam Khalid Latif, the executive director of the Islamic Center at NYU, said.

What You Need To Know

  • According to research, more than 70% of New Yorkers adhere to a faith tradition

  • The city’s diversity is reflected in the all the ways people believe and worship

  • The desire for community and a search for a deeper meaning in life are commonalities across faiths

  • The observance of the holy month of Ramadan is just one example of the many spiritual traditions practiced across the five boroughs

The observance of the holy month of Ramadan is just one example of the many spiritual traditions practiced across the five boroughs.

According to a 2020 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute, more than 70% of New Yorkers adhere to a faith tradition. The city’s diversity is reflected in the all the ways people believe and worship, from the Christian belief in the divinity of Jesus, to the different denominations of Judaism, to the many deities of Hinduism, to the reason-based prinicples of Humanism.

Regardless of belief or religious practice, many faith leaders and adherrents say their beliefs shape how they live and the decisions they make each day.

“You know that I’m a Christian, a seventh-day adventist Christian, by what I display in my life, not just what I profess, but also how I treat my fellow man,” Dr. Allen Martin, a pastor at Brooklyn’s Christian Fellowship Seventh-day Adventist Church, said.

As a devotee of the Hindu Temple Society of North America, Mohan Ramaswamy say his beliefs guide his sense of empathy for others.

“There’s divinity in every human being,” Ramaswamy said. “The soul is a spark of the Lord we think, and so there’s divinity in all of us, even the worst murderer."

For many New Yorkers, the practice of faith and the adherance to a religion helps them to find community in a city where it can be hard to make connections. By relying on her Muslim faith, Kifah Shah has been able to build an extended family of friends and acquaintances after moving to Manhattan.

“A lot of people, if you talked to them, not everybody, but especially transplants or newer people who have moved to the city, they’ll talk about how it can be lonely. Faith in the city to me means that you have a sense of home,” Shah said.

For these New Yorkers finding community in a city of 8.8 million people, it comes down to a matter of faith.