Why is the Catholic Church so opposed to the showing of 'The Da Vinci Code?'?
347350
For centuries the Church has relied on the ideas of male domination over women and that sex is not for men of the Church. This movie threatens their continued patriarchy and the sexual oppression imposed upon those who dedicate their lives to serving God, because it suggests that Jesus didn’t have a problem with sex or with elevating a woman to equal status as himself. The movie supports the notion that the Church's way isn't necessarily Jesus' way, and that is a huge threat to the power and credibility of the Church.
577293
Nobody knows if Jesus was celibate or not. For the Church to claim that people are now cynical about its claim regarding Jesus being celibate because of their interest in the Da vinci code is a good thing. People need to continually question their beliefs in order to reaffirm them or dismiss them as nonsense. The church is equally cynical about the claim that Jesus and MM were an item. Nobody knows the truth. There is not enough supporting evidence either way.
505064
ugh.... if you actually read the book, you'd know that the Da Vinci code is NOT condemning religion. its a FICTIONAL NOVEL. its only meant to entertain, and all it does is give a theory as to how jesus may have lived. \n\nif you're so afraid of a book or a story destroying your faith, do you really have that much faith to begin with??\nread the book, then make the decisions for yourself.
653096
Not all "Church people" dislike the movie.  Only the ignorant ones who do not think that people should have an imagination or think that people should not question or wonder about life in general. I, myself have no problem with the book or the movie.
99476
I think the church has a lot of different motivations for why they take offense to certain books.  There is the simple offense, where people deem certain content inappropriate because it is morally questionable.  For example, a group of parents discover a book that includes violence or sex inappropriate for their children and want to protest or boycott to have the offensive content removed.  The motivation is straight forward not surreptitious.  The solution is to restrict expose for the children you are responsible for, but it is extreme to try to decide what is appropriate for other people.  The second reason is not so pure.  The church may fear the challenge of different ideas.  They may feel that it weakens their power or control over people and situations.  Case in point, literature that is pro-birth control or not anti-abortion may be banned by the church because it challenges what they say and they may loose control over people when individuals read the information and become educated by the information.  The church used to only allow the Bible to be translated into Latin so that only a select few could read it and they would only share ideas that they wanted people to be exposed to.  This gave them control to manipulate the masses; it robbed people of their right to make their own decisions and to educate themselves.  I believe the church still engages in this practice and it is manifested in the church becoming offended and banning.
647283
the left behind series did not bash religion, y2k was a real problem that was averted with years of hard work.\n\nThe Da Vinci Code takes a lot of shots at christianity, the catholic church in particular.
668963
i REALLY don't see the problem. people should not just blindly follow a faith but actively question it, otherwise aren't they just sheep??\nThey should neither encourage nor discourage just let people make up their own minds. if the churchgoers are that commited to their religion they are hardly gonna leave it over a movie are they??!!
465012
Boycotting the movie would be such a ludicrous move ... it would basically confirm a view of the catholic church as unwilling to debate.\n\nIf you don't like the subject; actors; reviews etc etc then don't go ... but don't not go just because someone tells you that you should.  \n\nIf you have a strong faith you should be able to watch it as a FICTION.  I consider the book, as it clearly is, to be fictional with some interesting historical information and a central hypothesis that may or may not have a basic.\n\nDam ... wait until more folks read Angels and Demons :-)\n\nPeace out
1090509
I have known this for a long time, before the Da Vinci Code, because I did some research on Christianity a while back. There is whole lot of things that Christians don't know about their religion, like the fact that proven segments of the Bible are locked away in Vatican City, also there are other segments that provide a completely different view of Jesus, and if these views were held today they would put an end to things like, the requirement of church, the requirement of baptism, the acceptance of Jesus as god, and yet they were thought to be part of the Bible. Also you must remember that the Bible has been translated many times and mis translation from ancient languages into old english is very problematic, especially when it's done by scribes in a medival kings court. You must take everything in the Bible with a grain of salt, the stories in it are probably as they were in the original language, but they are not word for word, and also remember that parts of the Bible are missing, do research on it before you decide what is true.
663541
its a cool story. its been proven that its not true, but its still an interesting take on things. there was a whole thing on it on the Discovery channel. or national geographic, one or the other. \n\nand as long as a religious person isnt afraid to learn other ppl's ideas, they have no reason to be afraid of a movie.
564604
Different protestant churches may have different views on biblical topics from each other and from the Catholic Church. One of the main things about the Catholic Church is that they put their church tradition at a higher place than the Bible. This is a very dangerous thing to do because it allows the church to hold views that even go plainly against the Bible. Example: if you read 1 Tim 4:1-5 you will read in the Bible (even the Catholic Bible) that men who forbid people to marry are following a doctrine of demons. The Catholic church disregards the Bible there and insists on promoting a doctrine that is not from God. The rampant homosexuality in the priesthood is a by-product of following that demonic teaching. Being single is actualy better for those who want to be more devoted to the Lord but that should never be forced on anyone. \n\nAnother area where there is great danger, is where the Catholic church makes a Pope to be in charge of the church. He is actually called the vicar of Christ which means that he is the representative of Christ here on earth. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the head of the church and the believers are His body. A Pope is said to be able to speak "excathedera" (I think I mispelled it) which means that when he speaks on matters of doctrine and faith, he is "infallible" Obviously throughout the Catolic Church's history it has been wrong in many of its actions and beliefs as in the example I already gave. \n\nProtestants may have differing views but rarely are they as serious as undermining the scriptures and worshiping a man as supreme leader of the church.    \n\nYour average catholic does not know much of the Catholic official teachings which include "transubstantiation", progatory, outright idolatry, not beliving that Jesus died once for all sins as evidenced in the sacrifice of the "Mass", not being able to clain assurance of salvation (one of the worst beliefs of all), adding several books to the old testament about 1500 yrs after the fact to try to defend some of their unbiblical beliefs and the sale of indulgences ect.....Today when I meet a catholic who is open to the Bible, I don't try to bring up most of the above. I try to talk about having a personal relation with Christ and knowing that to get to heaven is a choice that depends on one's own decision not belonging to such and such a church.
220938
The fuss is coming from the Catholic Church because for some reason, people are believe the stuff in the fictional story.  It is a great story and people of faith (such as myself) are not going to have it shaken by this kind of story. But it is exciting and a great read.  Can't wait for the movie!
672417
The problem with "The Da Vinci Code" is that is starts by claiming that the Catholic Church is portrayed accurately. The trouble is, no distinction is made between the factual elements, and the purely fictional. As a result, people might come away believing fictional elements to be totally non-fictional.\n\nSome of the bigger fallacies claimed are:\n\nJesus is not God; he was only a man. \n\nJesus was married to Mary Magdalene. \n\nShe is to be worshiped as a goddess. \n\nJesus got her pregnant, and the two had a daughter. \n\nThat daughter gave rise to a prominent family line that is still present in Europe today. \n\nThe Bible was put together by a pagan Roman emperor. \n\nJesus was viewed as a man and not as God until the fourth century, when he was deified by the emperor Constantine. \n\nThe Gospels have been edited to support the claims of later Christians. \n\nIn the original Gospels, Mary Magdalene rather than Peter was directed to establish the Church. \n\nThere is a secret society known as the Priory of Sion that still worships Mary Magdalene as a goddess and is trying to keep the truth alive. \n\nThe Catholic Church is aware of all this and has been fighting for centuries to keep it suppressed. It often has committed murder to do so. \n\nThe Catholic Church is willing to and often has assassinated the descendents of Christ to keep his bloodline from growing.\n\nAnyone with a solid understanding of Catholic Church Doctrine and history, can easily discern fact from fiction. However many cannot, and therein lies the real danger.
373455
it only claims that it is based on facts that doesn't even exist.  like for one, in the book's fact page, the priory of sion was being mentioned as an organization in the early 1099. in 1975, the Les Dossiers Secrets was discovered in Paris's Bibliotheque Nationale identifying Leonardo Da Vinci as member of the org. this is the major basis of the novel.  but the truth of this is that the Priory of Sion did not exist until 1957.  How can Leonardo Da Vinci be a member or a grandmaster for that matter he has already rotten?  Everything that Dan Brown has written about the Priory of Sion was based not on historical facts but rather on claims found in the Priory of Sion documents – all bogus works of historical fiction stemming from Plantard's fertile imagination (and what gave them a deeper ‘esoteric’ flavour was Philippe de Chérisey's input, who tried to decorate the fantasies in a surrealist fashion).\n\nit has misrepresented the church as a murderous institution and that Christian faith is utterly false.  \n\nIt isn't a defense to say that The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction. Fiction can't change the basic facts about major historical figures without being subject to criticism. People would be outraged if Doubleday printed a novel portraying Adolph Hitler in a positive light. Christians have a right to be outraged when the basic historical facts about Christ are falsified. The criticism will be even more intense when a publisher releases a book parodying the most sacred beliefs of others in this fashion.\n\nFurther, as we have seen in this special report, the book takes great pains to create the appearance of factuality, including placing the infamous "fact" page at the beginning of the novel. Brown has stressed the ostensible accuracy of the book on his web site and in interviews. This is not a case where an author and a publisher have produced an ordinary novel. They have gone to great lengths to mislead people into thinking that the novel has a historical basis. They deserve especially sharp criticism for this, and when criticism is made they cannot hypocritically hide behind the "It's just fiction" allegation after having made such extensive efforts to convince the reader that it is not "just fiction."
63752
Lack of knowledge has to take it, I think. Most of what anti-Catholics know about our faith comes from anti-Catholic apologetics and tracts of the Jack Chick kind, and not any first-hand knowledge. The most ardent detractors are often people who have never seen the catechism, don't know what the CC teaches, and people who've never set foot in a Catholic parish. That's where all the weird stuff about "worshipping statues" and what not comes from.\n\nOf course, some people have a bad opinion of the Catholic church because they are Catholics who were badly served by the church itself. There have been too many bishops too quick to protect their priests and their diocese, and did not care enough about their flock to protect them. I'm thinking of the abuse crisis.\n\nWhere that matter is concerned, I think it will be to us, the laity, to take matters into our hands and make the church listen to us.
505723
A Response to "The DaVinci Code": What's the Problem?  \n\nSince its release in 2003, forty million hardback copies of The Da Vinci Code have sold. Six million paperback copies also are now in circulation, and this weekend, a major Hollywood movie will be released. In both the book and the movie, the central character is one who does not actually appear in either, and that is Jesus Christ. Because of that, many of our friends and neighbors are going to be talking about who Jesus is and why He came. Many of our neighbors are going to be seeing, perhaps for the first time, an explanation about who Jesus is and why He matters, and our great concern is that the entire story presented in this movie is a lie. \n\nThe interest in this book and movie should remind us that there is going on right now a spiritual battle, not only between light and darkness, and between the truth and the lie, but also between life and death. Our great concern therefore should not be merely that people might be confused, but that people would be blinded and held captive by a story that appeals to them, and yet a story that is an anti-Gospel, a false gospel, the very thing that the Apostle Paul warned against when he said, "If I or even an angel were to come to you preaching any other gospel, let him be anathema." \n\nYou see, sometimes the church does not remember this, but it is the church's responsibility to anathematize. That is something we don't talk about very much, but it is the church's responsibility clearly to declare as false anything which stands against the true gospel of Jesus Christ. We live in a harmonious age when everyone wants to nod at everything, smile appreciatively at everything, and not pass judgment on anything. In the midst of such an age, however, the church is called to say "no" and to identify the false as false. Otherwise we cannot truly honor the truth. \n\nAuthored by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code is a conspiracy story. It is a mystery suspense thriller, and Americans love mystery suspense thrillers. What makes this story different, however, is that the conspiracy theory that lies at the very heart of the book's plotline has to do with the Gospel. What drives the action of the story is the argument that the church's traditional teachings about Jesus are all a fraud. Instead of revealing who Jesus really was and what he really did, the book argues, the church buried the truth in an intentional conspiracy, claimed that Jesus was divine, and said that He had come to save sinners from their sin.\n\nBeginning in chapter 55, Brown gets to the very heart of the story when the central character begins to reveal to another character the truth about the conspiracy. Consider what the character Leigh Teabing says: "The Bible is a product of man, my dear, not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds, man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times and it has evolved through countless translations, editions and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book." \n\nNow if that is true, then we are reading a kind of committee report when we open the Scripture. But it is not true. This is one of those insidious statements that makes sense to sinners, because in effect, that one paragraph has just declared that we do not have to take the Bible as the Word of God. It is just a human document, says the book. \n\nHe goes on: "Jesus Christ was a historical figure of staggering influence, perhaps the most enigmatic and inspirational leader the world has ever seen. As the prophesied Messiah, Jesus toppled kings, inspired millions, and founded new philosophies. As a descendant of the lines of King Solomon and King David, Jesus possessed a rightful claim to the throne of the King of the Jews. Understandably, his life was recorded by thousands of followers across the land. More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and
1090013
It's absurd to believe that ANYTHING passed down for hundreds of years, and translated into hundreds of languages could be EXACTLY the way it was in it's original form. Not to mention that there are now different versions of the bible, King James Version, etc. \n\nLike now with all the hype over the Da Vinci code, people should ask questions and understand the origin of the religion that they believe so deeply in instead of just following it blindly.