In August 2003, the Coptic Orthodox Church, through the leadership of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III and the Holy Synod, issued a formal declaration against homosexuality and same-sex marriage. In part, the declaration stated, Same-sex marriage is against the Divine Plan for marriage and its purpose of procreation. “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined – …

March 7, 2008–-In response to a recent news story about Jonathan McCullum, a U.S. Exchange Student who claimed he was starved by a Coptic Christian family due to church fasts, the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California, and Hawaii clarifies as follows: Although the Church strongly encourages her believers to observe periods of fasting according to Apostolic Tradition, fasting is a voluntary spiritual sacrifice. The Church does not impose her fasting days on anyone. – …