Does anyone else find all this hullabaloo over DaVinci Code telling?

[lildreamer316]

From the Church especially. I even saw a COMMERCIAL last night SELLING a DVD SET debunking the whole thing. That is completely shameless!
I mean;if it's just a book then it's just A BOOK. It's supposed to be a work of FICTION (for the millionth time....).
I mean; I read the book. Then, I read Holy Blood, Holy Grail; and a couple of other da vinci code explanation books that came out after the novel. Of course I think it would be fascinating IF it is true; but I realize that I need to take the whole thing with a shaker of salt.....the theory COULD be true; or it COULD not. I see that the discussion that it engenders is actually quite enlightening; and breaks down more of the walls of secrecy and mystery that surround Catholic organized worship. That's ultimately the most important function of the whole thing.
HOWEVER; it seems that EVERY day we are faced with a new declaration of condemnation for the book/movie from the Catholic church and others. I mean; methinks the lady doth protest too much. WAY too much. They are really raising my suspicions that they have evidence hidden in the Vatican (or somewhere)that the theory IS true; or at least very plausible. If it wasn't a problem; then why issue statement after statement saying that the whole thing is NOT true?
Something's rotten in the state of church politics.
I'm just sayin'.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. I love it

The more they protest, the stupider they look.

How dare someone write fiction and cast the church in a bad light with a crazy story about the life of Jesus. Like their version of Jesus is any less crazy.

[ixion]

7. same thing with 'The Last Temptation of Christ'

which is a better book than a movie, by the by, and a very intriguing piece of work to say the least. When it was released, however, it was protested by a bunch of people who never actually took the time to look at the substance. Rather, they blindly protested that someone had the audacity to question the 'official' story. :eyes:

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. That has always been one of my favorite books

The movie was okay, even though William Defoe was a good Jesus has a human, he had a hard time pulling off the 'holy' side.

[ixion]

24. yeah, I agree

not a bad piece of film, but it pales in comparison to the book. Come to think of it, I'll have to re-read that sometime. ;-)

[DoYouEverWonder]

26. Have you ever read

Kazantzakis's - Saint Francis?

I think I like that one even better.

[ixion]

31. nope, I haven't read that one yet... thanks for the tip

I think he's a fantastic writer. :hi:

[stopbush]

2. I'm surprised, too. The DaVinci Code perpetrates the myth that Jesus

existed at all. Since there's no historical evidence to support that claim -
and since most of the "facts" of Jesus non-life were borrowed from earlier pagan religious figures -
one would think that the Church would be happy having Prime Directive Myth Numero Uno
reinforced by a non-Biblical myth, er, source.

:)

[Howardx]

13. AMEN BROTHER

n/t

[katty]

3. they also protesteth too much before the church sex abuse scandals

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. It's fucking hilarious! This need to "debunk" a work of fiction.

Why not debunk Lord of the Rings? Or Moby Dick?

Granted, Dan Brown, that arrogant hack, is pushing forth a personal agenda that everything in his book is well researched and true, and so he needs to be slapped around a bit. But I don't think anyone, even the ones who love the book, take that weasely liar at face value about the book being "true". I'm sure his publishers consider it nothing more than a novel, too.

[tocqueville]

5. the problem is that part of the fiction is presented as facts

in Europe a lot of the "debate"is not about the religious part, but about the historical an geographical innacurracies presented as if they were reality...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

16. When you go into a bookstore, in what section do you find the book?

[lildreamer316]

22. Bestsellers; or historical fiction/novels; I think. n/t

[tocqueville]

23. in the fiction part of course

but if part of the fiction is presented as "facts", it's a problem. Because it's not a question of some mistakes that any researcher could make, it question of a pattern. At the same time the book pretends to be meticulously researched.

It's like the Hollywood movie made about the capture of the enigma code machine during WWII (with enormous consequences for the Allies), which was done by British sailors. But Hollywood made them into US sailors, which pissed off the Brits and apologies at government level were asked. Even if Hollywood says "it's fiction" it doesn't matter, because in the collective US consciousness it becomes another jingoistic American victory.

And that's cheating

[applegrove]

6. There is so much in that book about all sorts of topics. Pulls people

in.. in a variety of ways. Me I liked the talk of how the female was erased from monotheism..where she had been celebrated as strong in previous cultures. That's the part I liked. Others like other parts. Imagine if Jesus had descendants? (Well they wrote an article a few years ago about how the Queen of England was related to the profit Mohamed through Spain - but mentioned that if you go back that many generations.. everyone is descended. So that didn't bite me).

I think that is why the book is doing so well. Cause it cuts a huge swath through world culture.

I wasn't into the murder mystery part myself. That lost me. But I'll be sure to read up on the theories coming about about the start of Monotheism and how it relates to feminism.

[lildreamer316]

9. I am ready for you:

1)The Chalice and The Blade by Riane Eisler. (This is a MUST read)
2)When God Was A Woman
3)Almost any of the Joseph Campbell books

There are a ton more; but the Riane Eisler is a GREAT introduction to the subject; with a very comprehensive overview.

[applegrove]

12. Hey - I tried to read the Chalice & the Blade a few times. Maybe I can

try again. Thanks!!

[lildreamer316]

21. I know it's

a bit dry. I had it in a class originally; and the discussion helped. Also; I was so very interested in the subject; so just drank it up. Take it slowly and maybe it will be easier.

[riderinthestorm]

30. Chalice and the Blade!!!

One of my favorites as is When God Was a Woman. Excellent suggestions! I havent' been into Joseph Campbell for a couple of decades but I remember him as being such a calm and insightful voice.....

Thanks for the reminders! My C&B copy is well worn from loaning it out for so many years.

[Arugula Latte]

8. Religion is all a house of cards.

I'm personally sick of the reverence for "faith." Faith is just another word for swallowing a bunch of hokum and being proud that you were able to fool yourself.

[roguevalley]

10. some old archbishop wants to sue which I find delusional. i wasn't

aware that they owned the trademark on Jesus.

[Faux pas]

11. Ah, that Catholic church is something else, for sure.

I can say that b/c I'm a recovering Catholic. They have many, many books that were kept out of the bible, so I know they are hiding plenty from us. Priests used to be able to marry before one Pope (sorry I can't remember which one) decided the church didn't want to support whole families.

If they sold off all the treasures in the Vatican, the world's population of hungry could be fed for years.....

:rant:

Sorry, I got carried away. What were we discussing? O8) LOL

[Spazito]

15. I must admit I have found the response from the those high up

in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to be fascinating. I can only think that, although they are well aware the book is fiction, it does present some thought provoking issues around the whole issue and does focus to some extent on a very real component of that hierarchy, Opus Dei.

[Critters2]

17. "the Church"?

Which church? My church hasn't made any such statement.

[Left Is Write]

20. I assume The Church refers to the RCC.

[valerief]

18. It's meant to reinforce Churchiness. n/t

[malaise]

19. As I said elsewhere

it's hysterically funny - the battle of the myths - catholic myths versus others. Afterall the bible is just another book full of myths. You think its leaders don't know that. I think many people forget that the catholic church is the oldest multinational corporation on the planet. Just ask the indigenous people of our hemisphere. Now why would they like their myths to be shattered by some other myth.

This is an athiest's comic relief.
Sp.

[Disturbed]

25. Defenders of one work of fiction vs another.

Maybe the film promoters paid the "Outraged'? Free PR?

[madeline_con]

27. It mucks up their little Council of Nicea sfuff.

And those whose faith is weak will be seduced and burn in hell. (gasp)

[cushla_machree]

28. its obvious

They don't like it because it presents a different interpretation. the sheep are not supposed to think!

Even if the book is fiction, they don't want people to see that, and question, well is there anything the catholic church is hiding? Is their version of events 100 % accurate?

[Generator]

29. They didn't wipe the gnostics off the face of the earth for nothing

They didn't pick some gospels and force others to bury them for years or anything. They didn't do that did they? GASP. The Catholic Church/organized relgions in my opinion IS the anti-Christ. (the opposite of Christ for those that might get offended-not the Devil but a mixed up version of Christ's message that was not what he was about) Not the people in the faith of course, but those that long ago that took the message and made it far away from light and into nothing but dogma for their own means:gold.