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Strange Press for the Davinci Code
5/29/2006
The movie the Davinci Code came out last week and I can't tell you the number of times I've heard the mainstream press refer to its basic tenets as being "nonsense" or "fantasy". Everyone from television commentators to famous film critics have joined in with the Catholic church to pooh-pooh the movie's veracity. Here's Roger Ebert's opinion:
"Dan Brown's novel is utterly preposterous; Ron Howard's movie is preposterously entertaining. Both contain accusations against the Catholic Church and its order of Opus Dei that would be scandalous if anyone of sound mind could possibly entertain them."
My problem with this is that although the specific modern-day events in the book are indeed fictional the basis of the story, that Jesus was married and had kids, is actually a genuine belief that some people hold. Yes, it's incompatible with the more widespread Christian doctrine, but so is Hinduism, or Islam. Why isn't the Catholic church and the "liberal" mainstream press calling those beliefs "nonsense" and "fantasy"? Cecil B. DeMille's biblical films are filled with unlikely events yet I never hear film critics call them "preposterous".
Furthermore, there have erupted a great many Websites that use gasp science and reasons to debunk the Davinci Code. Why should the Davinci Code be held up to scientific scrutiny when other tomes of faith, like the Bible, never are? Do Christians really want to look at Bible in the cold, hard light of provable facts? Probably not...
The sheer irrationality of how people embrace or dismiss various forms of mysticism forever confounds me.
5/29/2006 | Permanent Link
