What is the recent uproar over The da Vinci Code all about?

[T Roosevelt]

My friends and I often debate through email, and one of them (Catholic) brought up something involving the da Vinci Code. He brings up Salman Rushdie (and Islam), The Last Temptation of Christ (and Christians), and The Passion of the Christ (and Jews), and then this (in his own words):


Now we have “The Da Vinci Code”. However, like Temptation it turns Christianity into a mythology. Here is my argument. As a Christian, I feel like I am to take a backseat to my dislike for a piece of fiction. In other words, it was ok for the Islamic community to outraged by “The Satanic Verses” or the Jewish community apprehension for “The Passion of Christ”. However, when the Christian community stands in protest against “The Last Temptation of Christ” or “The Da Vinci Code”, they are scorned as being naive and childish. Other religions are given a pass in this country and for many; Christianity is viewed almost like a superstition.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. The Da Vinci Code...

As I understand it, is another version of the "Holy Blood and Holy Grail"/Rennes le Chateau mythos, more or less. It is a mythos that runs square up against the accepted Christian doctrinal stuff.

The HBHG mythos seems to have been constructed by some french royalists to give themselves a lineage that traces them back to offspring of Jesus and Mary Magdaline. That is the essence of it.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Jeepers, these people need to get a life. It's just a novel!

They've got their panties in a wad because the premise of the book is that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had children. The plot centers around the church's efforts to keep this a secret. But it doesn't suggest that Christianity is a myth -- what it all comes down to is that some people totally freak out at the thought that maybe Jesus might have had sex. It's actually a pretty good book, I think, but, puhleeze...it's just a work of freaking fiction.

[librechik]

3. sorry, "religion" is bunk. Believe in it and be comforted all you want

but NONE of it is based on facts or science, and yes, it is very close to superstition. Are we supposed to just abandon reason and logic if someone shows us a Bible? Ask your friend to please join the reality based community. You don't have to lose your beliefs, just realize that religion is not real. Beliefs are not based on reality, but on hope. Nothing wrong with that (as long as you don't impose it on others) but it's NOT REALITY. Why do these people want to turn the clock back to the Middle Ages??? Did they like smallpox? Faith doesn't cure disease, science does.

[Why Syzygy]

4. superstition/mythology

pretty much sums it up (x-tianity).

Whoever this "friend" is, he/she has no communication skills.
What is the MESSAGE? "take a backseat to my dislike for a piece of fiction" .. :wtf: does that mean?

[ET Awful]

5. Actually, when the muslims complained of The Satanic Verses

and scholars called for Rushdie's death, they were pretty much condemned worldwide for their attitude.

When people complained of the Passion being anti-semitic, they were universally ignored.

To say "now we hae The Da Vinci Code" is a misrepresenation, if not outright lie, since it came before the Passion did.

Anyone who stood in protest to the Last Temptation of Christ has never actually thought rationally about their deity anyway.

[Maple]

6. I don't recall

it being 'ok for the Islamic community to be outraged by 'The Satanic Verses'

Salman Rushdie was seen as a hero, the freedom of expression was upheld, and Rushdie even got special protection for years because of the fatwa against him.

Jews were concerned 'The passion of Christ' would cause hate crimes against them, but other than expressing that concern, I don't remember them moving to ban it.

Actually when people protest books or movies, it acts as publicity, and creates more of an audience than it would have had otherwise. People go see it, or they read it, in order to see what all the fuss was about.

In any case, no topic is off limits for discussion or theorizing in a free society.

[DBoon]

7. Christians are a majority in this country

and dominate its culture and politics thoroughly. No work of fiction is going to challenge this hegemony.

When christians are "outraged" over a work of fiction, they have the power to block it completely. Even without legal censorship, christians have the economic and political clout to make something very difficult to obtain in many places.

This is the danger behind a mainstream religion's oposition to this work of fiction.

Jews and Muslims in this coutry have no such power (in this country at least). Jews and Muslims are outsider groups, who have legitimate concerns about the mainstream getting inflamed against them.

[forgethell]

14. Oh, that's nonsense!!!

Yes, Christians, nominal ones, anyway, are dominate in the culture. but it's been a long time since they were able to get anything 'censored'.

The 'mainstream' has an absolute right to criticize anydamnthing they want to, same as a 'minority'. If Christians don't want to buy something because they have read reviews showing that they will not be pleased with it's philosophy, plot, characters, or whatever, SO THE HELL WHAT. Just because they ARE the majority does not mean that their rights to make decisions based on their own ideas, even if based on their religion or culture are any less important, or to be protected, than those of the minority.

If Jews and Muslims have legitimate concerns, then so do Christians. You call me when Jerry Falwell issues a fatwa, OK.

All that being said, the reason that Christians seem to not care for The Da Vinci Code is that certain parts of it directly contradict certain essential elements of the traditional Christian faith. Why shouldn't they be offended? Also, it purports to be factually based. So they think it is a lie. And, like us on DU, when they see a lie they disagree with, they try to publicize it.

Frankly, I haven't read the book,yet, although it is in a stack I've got that I hope to work my way through in the next 6 months. Whether or not I will like it, I don't know. Whether or not I will agree/disagree with the author or the critics, I don't know. But I have absolutely NO objection to people bringing to my attention their opinions about it.

Frankly, I don't see the problem with that. Do you??

[Why Syzygy]

15. Fatwa . you're looking for a Fatwa?

All hands on deck >> What's your definition of a "FATWA"?
You call me when Jerry Falwell issues a fatwa, OK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Falwell
(cut)
The Anti-Defamation League and its leader Abraham Foxman have expressed strong support for Jerry Falwell and his staunch pro-Israel stand, referred to sometimes as "Christian Zionism." Falwell has repeatedly denounced public schools and secular education in general, calling them breeding grounds for atheism, secularism, and humanism, which he claims are in contradiction with Christian morality. He advocates that the United States abolish its public education system, replacing it with church-run schools, similar to the school voucher proposals by the Bush administration. His advocacy is widely considered to be theocratic in nature, and Falwell's views are noted by his critics as similar or equivalent to those of conservative Mullahs in Islamic countries.
(cut)

(cut)
On the broadcast of the Christian television program "The 700 Club," Falwell made the following statement:

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"
(cut)

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/14/Falwell.apology/
(cut)
The Rev. Jerry Falwell and broadcaster Pat Robertson, commenting on the terrorist attacks, claimed the United States had insulted God and lost divine protection.

God allowed "the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve," Falwell noted.

He later apologized for his remarks, but are we really to believe his half hearted apology for words which were stupid at best and traitorous at worse. His remarks gave aid and comfort to our enemies, the Terrorists. His words were horrible to the mothers and wives and husbands and sons and daughters of those that died on September the 11th, 2001. His words were not coming from a person who loved this country. His words displayed the reason he is featured on this page. He has displayed his true feelings which are rooted in TV ratings and money and self importance.
(cut)
http://www.tylwythteg.com/enemies/falwell.html

[forgethell]

16. Well, when he

issues commands for all Christians to kill the Jews and/or Muslims, or even some of them, then I will consider that he has issued a fatwa. Jerry Falwell, despite his obvious flaws, is in no way comparable to murderers of any stripe, let alone the Mullahs of Iran, the PA, Hamas, the Baathists, Osama, etc.

[forgethell]

17. dupe delete

[dave123williams]

8. It says Jesus was married, to Magdelaine, and they had kids.

If you said that 400 years ago, you'd get burned at the stake; this year, it's just beach reading. I guess it's the whole 'blasphemy' thing that's got panties in a twist...

[Malva Zebrina]

9. It says bad things about Opus Dei

also.

It reveals the self flagellation practices and the nut case in the story is a fanatic member of Opus Dei, as well as some bishop or priest that guides or encourages this fanatic.

It is a work of fiction, a mystery intertwined with fact and myth. I thought it entertaining. I listened to it on book tape which was available in my library.

[Agnomen]

10. My objection to "The Da Vinci Code"

is that it's such a poorly written and constructed whodunit. A murder mystery plot superimposed on Baignet, Leigh & Lincoln's "Holy Blood Holy Grail" theories which have been around for over 20 years just gave them a larger market. The holy blood holy grail books are a better read, if one is a conspiracy theory fan, since they weave together historical facts and figures w. a good dose of conjecture into the grandest conspiracy of all time. They can't offer proof, just raise some questions about the accepted versions of church history. Dan Brown wrote a novel - that's all it is - a product of a writer's imagination and creativity. Literary criticism aside, I don't see any reason for an uproar over the contents.

[idiosyncratic]

11. The pastor of the church I USED to attend wrote this book

to counter the fallacies in The Da Vinci Code.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/078144165X/qid=1103904911/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-9254681-9417759?v=glance&s=books&n=507846">Cracking Da Vinci's Code: You've Read the Fiction, Now Read the Facts

Jim Garlow is a fantastic pastor whose scholarship about the Bible is excellent. I'm sure the book is well worth reading.

[Canuckistanian]

12. "Saint Nicholas - You've read the fiction, now read the facts"

See how ridiculous this is?

[quiet.american]

13. Over-rated

This is slightly off-topic, but I don't find The Da Vinci Code worth taking seriously at all.

The writing itself is atrocious and the author is obviously in way over his head when it comes to writing from a perspective of deep spiritual understanding.

To me, it was written purely for the bucks and if I didn't know better, I'd think it was written by a seventeen-year-old.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. I kind of enjoyed it. It's not great art, but

it was just fine to read on an airplane or lounging on the beach. It's just a mystery-adventure book, light reading, and frankly I don't understand why so many people got their knickers in a twist over it. But then, I don't understand religious fanaticism, either.