By Isaac Harold Gomes

Joseph Mani, the author of this book, is a BSc; MSc in Physics and MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. He has also done his studies in Philosophy, Religion, Literature and Linguistics. With such a varied all-round academic background, it is no wonder Mr Mani has written such a daunting yet exceptional book.

Being a man of science, Mani has grounded all his findings on the bedrock of scientific evidence. He questions the Catholic Church practice of constant harping on sin (even for a newborn child) and guilt. He concedes that believers may not agree with his viewpoint. But the coherent manner of his argument, is certain to make the reader sit up and take a relook at conventional religious beliefs.

It is an excellent and well researched book on religion and its complementary connection with science. The author has cited Copernicus, Galileo, Giordano Bruno, British cosmologist and astrophysicist Martin Rees, physicist (black holes and quantum gravity) Paul Davies; mathematician, philosopher of science and Christian apologist John Carson Lennox, Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.

He has attempted to build a bridge between Theists and Atheists so that in spite of having different
beliefs, both can agree to work for the Common Good of humans throughout the world. He feels religion can unite humanity and not divide it provided all religious leaders are willing to give up their assertion “only my religion is right.”

The salient points of the book are:

 Irrationality Vs Rationality

 None of the four gospel writers knew Jesus personally and they were written decades after the
occurrence of the events they described.

 The Bible was written by different individuals separated by decades and centuries.

 The New Testament as we have it now has been put together by the Catholic Church keeping what suited it. It is the Church which came first. Then around 400 CE it decided on the Scripture.

 All scriptures should be subjected to critical analysis as they have been written by fallible human beings.

 The Catholic Church has 5120 saints. It maintains that Catholics only `venerate’ saints, and that worship is reserved for God alone. But in practice, devotees bow, genuflect and prostrate before the statues of saints as they would do before God.

 There are very few lay persons among the saints. The largest majority of saints are bishops, priests, nuns, and popes.

 This is not because there are no holy lay persons but because of the time consuming, complicated and costly process of canonization. A Congregation does not mind this long wait and expenses because, once they get one of their members elevated to the stage of `Blessed’, the money starts pouring in and the flow will continue indefinitely. Pope John Paul II was a prolific saint maker. During his papacy he made more saints than all his predecessors put together. He was also in turn made a saint.

 It is also not that all saints deserve our unqualified respect. For example St. Augustine of Hippo who was a debauch and is the patron saint of brewers; or St. Cyril (Bishop Cyril of Alexandria who had Hypatia, the first recorded woman mathematician in history, dragged by his parishioners to a church, beaten and burnt to death, and had her works destroyed).

 There is no clear indication in the New Testament of Jesus himself ever baptizing anybody (John 4:2 Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples).

 God has created humans with their own free will. But there are Catholics who maintain that everything is predetermined by God and that humans have no choice. This means both the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot and the 9/11 tragedy were predetermined by God.
 The author describes the predictions/forecasts on the end of the world from Hindu, Islam and Christian standpoints. But in the face of overwhelming evidence all of them have turned out to be false.

 Instead of spending money on mammoth structures, the Church should focus on human resources/changing lives.

 Instead of fighting to establish their religious superiority, religious leaders / people should fight for environmental protection, elimination of nuclear weapons, justice and equality, women’s safety and empowerment of the marginalized.

 Jesus was perhaps the greatest moral teacher and social reformer the world has seen. He was a fearless reformer and the most inclusive of all religious teachers. He also allowed women to be His disciples, something which was abhorred in His time. Jesus never founded any religion or church. It is His followers who started the Church.

 Several Popes (the author has named them) have been morally corrupt or inhumanly cruel, especially to free thinkers and scientists.

 The author feels in not so distant future the Church may allow priests to marry if they so wish and also lift the ban on women being ordained  Religion has inspired some of the world’s greatest efforts in the world. If followers of each religion practised what their scripture tells them, there would be peace on earth.

The 299-page book is priced at Rs 350/- and is published by Notionpress.com. It is available online from Amazon.com.

It is a very plucky book which has to be read with patience line by line.

(Other books written by the author are: Why can’t you be normal like me – Understanding oneself and others through the Myers-Briggs-Type Indicator (2009) – The Bombay St. Paul’s Society.

Three Talented Men – Lessons in Leadership through Stories (2014) – Patridge India, New Delhi.)