Mangalore, October 28: The very definition of theology is faith looking for explanations said Fr Ronnie Prabhu, Former Rector, St Aloysius Institutions Mangalore.
He was speaking after releasing Dr. Micheal Lobo's book 'Is Christianity a Flawless Religion?' at St Aloysius College auditorium in Mangalore on Sunday.
Fr Prabhu said that people must question their own faith but what is important is the way in which the questions are asked. “One has to ask questions as an insider because an insider asks questions to understand whereas an outsider asks questions to attack”, he said.
Commenting on the title and theme of the book, Fr. Prabhu said that he does admit that Christianity “has a few flaws here and there” but is not ashamed of the flaws as they are “true to life”. “Differences of opinion and little fights do take place between couples but that does not put their loyalty and devotion to each other in question. There are a few flaws but those flaws are true to life”, he said.
Fr Prabhu also pointed out that Dr. Lobo had opted to make observations about the old Catholicism and instead should have looked at today's Catholicism to pose questions. “The Church has undergone many changes over a period of time”, he said.
Fr Swebert D'Silva, Principal, St Aloysius College, expressing his thoughts, said that science and religion can go together and need not contradict each other. He said that religion is one of those things which are a matter of perspective as to how one looks at it and stated that there have been times when religion has been a source of division while it has also been a source of unity with its purer form.
Giselle Mehta, popular writer, said that it is important to appreciate the liberal over the literal and pointed out that Europe, which has been a prominent centre of Christianity for long, is today the fastest growing atheistic continent in the world. Religions have traditionally been disciplinary tools to regulate social mechanism, she opined.
Dr. Lobo, the author of the book, said that his work is a critical analysis of Christianity and that he has tried to ask questions on the basis of reason and logic. Dr. Lobo on the occasion said that the Jesuits were the first to accept the Darwinian theory and have been open to scientific reasoning.
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