Finding my religion

Published: Sunday, Feb 3, 2013, 10:00 IST
By Apoorva Dutt | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

Rahat Banker had always prided himself on his logical thinking and complete lack of prejudice. “I reasoned things through,” he says. “Whether I was deciding if I should study for an exam, or thinking about the merits of Nescafe instant coffee.” Maybe it made sense that Banker was an atheist. After all, isn’t rationalism the mortal enemy of religious belief?

But Rahat Banker is now Jacob Rahat Banker, a name he assumed after he converted to Judaism last year.

It began in 2009 when Banker, a 26-year-old ‘creative guy’ at an ad agency, chanced upon a copy of Being Jewish, a guide to the spiritual and cultural practices of modern Judaism. “I read it and I was a convert before I realised it. It’s like when you read a particularly well-argued stance, and practically without your own permission, you have switched sides because the logic is impeccable. That’s what Judaism was like for me.”

It then dawned on him that he assumed atheism without really researching the topic. “Religion sounded like such bunkum that research to dismiss it didn’t seem necessary.”

http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report_finding-my-religion_1795566