Two years ago, when The Passion of The Christ debuted in theaters, some critics worried that the film depiction of Jesus' final hours would incite violence against Jews. Members of the mainstream media were on a 24-hour pogrom watch, comparing the movie to anti-Semitic passion plays in pre-Nazi Germany. The media seemed genuinely surprised when the predicted hate crimes never happened. In fact, most Christians left the movie feeling prayerful, rather than angry.
On Friday, Sony Pictures will release the screen adaptation of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code
a book that is offensive to Christians, especially Catholics. And despite efforts to characterize Christians as a censorious lynch mob, they're again failing to display totalitarian tendencies.
It's no surprise that Catholics are opposed to The Da Vinci Code. Most of what Brown presents as historical fact about Jesus and the early Church is in direct opposition to Catholic doctrine. The novel states that Jesus fathered a child by Mary Magdalene and designated her as the leader of his church. It also claims that Jesus was a mere mortal and that church leaders voted on his divinity at the Council of Nicaea, three centuries after his death.
So how has the majority of Catholics reacted? Have they bullied Sony into abandoning the movie? Have they picketed theaters and threatened bookstore customers who purchase the novel? No. Although the Vatican itself has called for a boycott of the movie, many Catholics have responded to The Da Vinci Code with educational outreach campaigns.
According to the Catholic Almanac about 24 percent of Americans belong to the Catholic Church. If they all decided to come together and boycott The Da Vinci Code and pressure others to follow suit, they likely would succeed at shutting down the movie and the book. But most Catholics would rather educate than censor. Catholic groups and individual church members have written books to counteract Dan Brown's claims, including The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code by Richard Abanes, Cracking Da Vinci's Code by James Garlow and The Da Vinci Deception by Erwin W. Lutzer. These authors are not attempting to force Catholic doctrine on the general public. They have simply found a way to educate people about the Church without silencing Brown.
It's often said that the best response to a bad idea is a better idea. In a secular democracy, educational campaigns are the most responsible form of protest. They allow all citizens to promote their beliefs without censoring others. Of course, many groups scoff at democratic protest and would prefer that their opponents just shut up. The Catholic Church is not one of them.
Even Opus Dei, a Catholic group based in New York City, has refused to condemn The Da Vinci Code. In the novel, members of Opus Dei were presented as drugged-out, homicidal religious fascists. But the group's official response to the movie's release tells a different story.
'The Da Vinci Code' has raised public interest in the origins of the Bible and of central Christian doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus Christ
says Opus Dei on its Web site, www.opusdei.org. These topics are important and valuable to study
and we hope that interested readers will be motivated to study some of the abundant scholarship on them that is available in the non-fiction section of the library.
Maybe I'm missing something, but that statement doesn't seem to hint at ruthless totalitarianism.
Obviously, Christians aren't perfect. A faith with two billion followers worldwide is bound to have advocates of censorship. In 1988, Martin Scorsese made the film The Last Temptation of Christ
which depicted Jesus as a lunatic who dreamed on the cross of sleeping with Mary Magdalene. Christians were furious and successfully had the movie banned in several countries, including Chile and the Philippines. The Da Vinci Code was pulled from bookshelves in Lebanon after Catholic priests complained. Church leaders in Italy are working to censor the film version.
But most American Catholics demonstrate tolerance for dissent. Despite their enormous numbers and political influence, they have expressed little interest in becoming Thought Police. Their reaction to The Da Vinci Code doesn't jibe with the media's view of Christians as angry and oppressive.
Instead, American Catholics have proved, with their responsible protests of The Da Vinci Code
that it's possible to oppose an idea without suppressing it. It's a lesson from which all people, regardless of religious or political affiliation, can benefit.
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Ashley Herzog
