The Last Templar

I just finished The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury. I had bought the book at O'Hare airport to kill a 3 hour layover. The book was pretty good. I have not read The Da Vinci Code but I've heard if you like that book you would like this one.

*SPOILER WARNING*

The gist of the book is the revolves around an FBI agent and an archaeologists hunting down a disillusioned and somewhat-psycho archaeologist who stole an ancient Templar decoder device. The device is the key component in finding the Templar's greatest secret which could bring down the Catholic Church and organized religion in general. While this is all happening, the Vatican has sent its own "enforcers" to ensure this does not happen. The secret they are all trying to find or protect is that Jesus was not truly the Son of God and that the Templars were trying to unite the three major world religions - Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The antagonist in the book makes the argument that the world would be a much better place if not for all the "holy" wars and strife between the three major religions. It is argued that if the world is given the knowledge of the true nature of Jesus, through this enlightenment, wars would cease and the Catholic church would no longer have the hold over millions and millions of minds. In the end the "secret" of Christ is not revealed and having "faith" in something isn't so bad after all.

I didn't agree with the premise the back was shooting at with the "religion causes all of the problems". I am a Christian...follower of Christ, not a follower of a religion, and I was not offended by what was written in the book as long as you keep in mind it is fiction. Nothing more.

Overall, not a bad read but I'm not going to read it again so I'll taking it to my local book resale shop soon.