Pi reflects that after his parents learn he is simultaneously practicing Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam, the trouble does not end. He criticizes people who rush to “defend God” from perceived insults while ignoring suffering around them, such as widows with leprosy and homeless children.

Pi argues that God is not defended by public outrage but by inner moral struggle. For Pi, the real battleground is each person’s heart, and the self-righteous should turn their indignation toward their own capacity for evil and toward helping the vulnerable.

Pi then recounts concrete examples of religious gatekeeping directed at him. An oaf chases Pi away from the Great Mosque, a priest glares at Pi in church so harshly Pi cannot feel peace, and a Brahmin sometimes shooes Pi away from darshan. Reports of Pi’s devotions reach Pi’s parents in urgent tones, as if Pi has committed treason.

Pi concludes that this small-mindedness does nothing to help God and insists that religion should be about human dignity rather than depravity. To protect his own spiritual life, Pi changes his routines: he stops attending Mass at Our Lady of Immaculate Conception and goes to Our Lady of Angels instead, leaves quickly after Friday prayers, and visits the temple only at crowded times when Brahmins are too distracted to interfere.