Da Vinci Hoax

[lovehound]

I plan to see it. I have read the book and I liked it. It's just fiction. No sense in taking it more seriously than it needs to be.

[fairiedustkisses]

This has me rather worried. I can see that alot of problems are going to arise from this movie being released.

[dinadan]

fairiedustkisses said:

This has me rather worried. I can see that alot of problems are going to arise from this movie being released.

Would you care to elaborate?

[Daae]

I agree with those who have said that all this hysteria over the Da Vinci Code is more than a little ridiculous. It's a novel, fiction, for crying out loud. And if one work of fiction can make you doubt your faith, then we need to have a serious talk about this "faith". I personally like how my church is handling the movie by having books available with information on what's true and what's not in the book, and suggesting that you can use the movie as a springboard for discussion. That's what I did in my zoology classes when evolution came up. Show them the other side of the story.

(And I have to agree that Dan Brown's history is more than a little fuzzy. My dad is reading the book, and he's not a real big history buff, but he can see that there isn't much history involved.)

[dinadan]

Mostly Harmless, eh?

Reading "Da Vinci Code" does alter beliefs: survey
Tue May 16, 2006 10:11am ET162

By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - "The Da Vinci Code" has undermined faith in the Roman Catholic Church and badly damaged its credibility, a survey of British readers of Dan Brown's bestseller showed on Tuesday.

People are now twice as likely to believe Jesus Christ fathered children after reading the Dan Brown blockbuster and four times as likely to think the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei is a murderous sect.

"An alarming number of people take its spurious claims very seriously indeed," said Austin Ivereigh, press secretary to Britain's top Catholic prelate Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.

"Our poll shows that for many, many people the Da Vinci Code is not just entertainment," Ivereigh added.

He heads a prominent group of English Roman Catholic monks, theologians, nuns and members of Opus Dei, who commissioned the survey from leading pollster Opinion Research Business (ORB) and have sought to promote Catholic beliefs at a time when the film's release has provoked a storm of controversy.

ORB interviewed more than 1,000 adults last weekend, finding that 60 percent believed Jesus had children by Mary Magdalene -- a possibility raised by the book -- compared with just 30 percent of those who had not read the book.

The English group demanded that the "Da Vinci Code" movie, being given its world premiere at the Cannes Film festival on Wednesday, should carry a "health warning".

The group, which stopped short of following the Vatican line of calling on Catholics to boycott the film, accused Brown of dishonest marketing based on peddling fiction as fact.

The novel, which has sold over 40 million copies, also depicts Opus Dei as a ruthless Machiavellian organization whose members resort to murder to keep the Church's secrets.

The survey underlined the astonishing popularity of Brown's novel -- it has been read by more than one in five adults of all ages in Britain.

Ivereigh complained that Brown and film studio Sony Pictures "have encouraged people to take it seriously while hiding behind the claim that it is fiction.

"Our poll shows they should take responsibility for their dishonesty and issue a health warning."

In the survey, readers were asked if Opus Dei had ever carried out a murder. Seventeen percent of readers believe it had, compared with just four percent of non-readers.

Opus Dei spokesman Jack Valero said he was astonished.

"Since we were founded in 1928, Opus Dei has promoted the highest moral standards at work, spreading a message of Christian love and understanding," he said.

"Yet the Da Vinci Code has persuaded hundreds of thousands of people that we have blood on our hands."

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

[Gwalchmai]

I've always wondered what the Ireland issue would be like on a world scale... now I know.

[dreamer]

Again, din, that is one reporter's opinion. I am still of the opinion myself that if people aren't reading the outside of the book's spine and seeing that it is a work of fiction, they are sadly mislead. They are also probably the ones who buy the "magazines" that talk about aliens or some hugely funny headline and believe those. If people believe everything that they read in a fiction book, we are one sad society.

[dinadan]

dreamer said:

Again, din, that is one reporter's opinion. I am still of the opinion myself that if people aren't reading the outside of the book's spine and seeing that it is a work of fiction, they are sadly mislead. They are also probably the ones who buy the "magazines" that talk about aliens or some hugely funny headline and believe those. If people believe everything that they read in a fiction book, we are one sad society.

Dreamer, that's not a reporter's opinion--the reporter writing the article is reporting the results of a poll conducted by a third party on behalf of Opus Dei. Granted, there's some amount of skewing that might've gone on, but their numbers are pretty shocking.

And yes, we are one sad society--because people do believe things without thinking about them critically, which is what I've been saying all along. Forget the theological issues with The DaVinci Code for a moment, and look at how it has damaged the reputation of Opus Dei--which is a Catholic service organization, not a murderous, assassinating prelate of the church. If I were to write a fictional novel in which the Jewish philanthropic organization, Yeladim, were featured as having secret members that conducted assassinations across the Arab world on behalf of the secret, Zionist agenda, my book would be censored, I can almost assure you, by the Anti-Defamation League. Dan Brown has done the very same thing against Opus Dei, which, believe it or not, The DaVici Code is probably the first contact most people have with that organization; first impressions are the strongest--which is probably what is reflected in those poll numbers which say that readers of the novel are sixty-six percent more likely to believe that Opus Dei has ordered murders.

I'm not being a fanatic or a fundamentalist and I'm not calling for the movie to be banned. I plan on seeing it myself. I read the book. All I'm saying is that we, my friends, are not the average readers of this book. From discussions on this board with many of you, I'm aware of that fact. You are all pretty savvy folks when it comes to texts--and what's more, you're readers of fantasies, which, despite what you hear, is actually a help to people to distinguish between fact and fiction. That's why most of us (and this was my first reaction to the book as well) are willing to write it off as a novel and leave it where it belongs, in the fiction section. But there are people out there--and this poll indicates that there are more of them that I thought--who aren't so distinguishing in their reading. Those people, the average readers--and the non-readers than this movie is going to pull into theatres--are the ones we need to be worrying about.

Which is why I'm all for the opening credits ending with "This film is entirely a work of fiction" or something to that effect.

[Lady Bookwyrm]

I just want to say something that is vaguely related to this topic of discussion...

Mary Magdalene was NOT a prostitute. She was a very high-ranking lady of her time who was possessed by seven demons, according to the bible.

Sorry...it's just one of my pet peeves when people get confused about that.

Continue on with your debate!

[Child of Immanuel]

Wolves in sheep's clothing...

[frankwanderer]

Speaking for myself, I’m glad to see that people posting on a board dedicated to the fiction (much of it with real-world historical elements) of Stephen Lawhead have a reasonably appropriate understanding of what Da Vinci Code is…and what it isn’t.

Frank the Wanderer

[dgan]

This might be slightly off topic, but I find it ridiculous how the media judges what people think of the movie by how many people see it. Da Vinci Code the movie was well attended, sure, but controversy does not indicate support. Boycotts, such as the one that started this thread, seem to be a thing of the past. People will see a movie even if they don't agree with it. How many pastors do you think saw the movie just so they would know how to argue against it?

Of course, by the same token, how many people went to the Roman Coliseum to see people brutally murdered. Is there really a difference between watching and cheering? A slippery slope...that is for sure. However, what is the alternative? Shall I write it off as being completely wrong simply because other people tell me it is? That is the type of close-mindedness that allows the manipulation of society.

It seems we must choose between owning partial ignorance or being perceived as morally unfounded. Again proof that the devil will always find a way to convict you in the eyes of humanity no matter what you choose, which is why each one of us must not look for that acceptance. We must do what we know, and sometimes what we feel, is right in the eyes of God. We all must choose for ourselves whether or not we'll see this movie and the reasons for that choice.

*steps off soapbox*

[slamdring]

The most Ironic things are
1) Opes Dei doesn't have monks as Dan Brown says
2) Symbology is not even a degree
(and people have been saying that the book helped them spiritually so obviously they are not taking it as pure fiction)
Lastly Dan Brown was asked in an interview what he would change in this "fiction" to make it historically and he replied NOTHING so hes trying to play "walk on the fence".

[frankwanderer]

slamdring said:

Lastly Dan Brown was asked in an interview what he would change in this "fiction" to make it historically and he replied NOTHING so hes trying to play "walk on the fence".

*chuckles* Dan Brown has made a couple of those rather cute statements. He has shown a pretty solid grasp of the marketing concept misunderstanding=publicity.

Questions like that only help perpetuate that concept, since it's a fairly loaded question. Consequently, Dan Brown's response is equally loaded. To my best knowledge, there is no definitive, measurable system gradations to "determine" how "historical" a given piece of "historical fiction" is (even assuming one can classify da Vinci Code as historical fiction, which is debatable). That being the case, Dan Brown's answer is quite literally true: there is nothing that he could change in his work of fiction that would make it "more historical". It's the misinterpretation of that answer, however, that will sell a few more books....

Frank the Wanderer

[slamdring]

Personally with only 6 million+ copies sold i think money might be a factor in his life, just maybe. I mean come on, if he really believed this stuff he would be giving his book for free to "evangelized" the world. 1 thing that bothers me.....
There was a movie (can't remember the name) with Tom Cruz (however you spell his name) that depicted a Satanic sex ritual...... Brown said it was inaccurrate. How does he know, satanists don't usaully give out their practices to outsiders. shocking no?