Religion serves various purposes for believers. For some, it is a source of identity. Some seek in it community and socialisation. Quite many use it as a political tool for gaining and wielding power over others. Those who treat it as the ultimate source of truth are not few. What is religion, in fact? Rather, what should it be? This is the question that Eric Segal’s novel, Acts of Faith , seeks to probe. Daniel and Deborah are the children of an extremely orthodox Jewish rabbi while Timothy is the illegitimate son of a woman who claims none less than the Holy Spirit as the father of her child. Segal uses 545 pages to tell how these three characters struggle with their religions until they break themselves free of the absurd straitjackets imposed by the religion and realise the true meaning of religion. The central message of the novel may be summarised in the words of one of the characters: “You mean you hate Deborah because your father was a Christian? Dividing
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