Top Anglican Head Slams Da Vinci Code, 'Gospel of Judas' in Easter Sermon
Monday, Apr. 17, 2006
Posted: 9:14:25AM EST

CANTERBURY, England (AP) – The huge public appetite for revisionist stories like "The Da Vinci Code" should not weaken the truth of the Gospel, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said.

Williams, leader of the world's Anglican Communion, used his Easter sermon to comment on the spread of conspiracy theories about religion.

He mentioned in particular Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," a fictional thriller based on theories that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a child. It has sold more than 40 million copies since it was published in 2003.

"One of the ways in which we now celebrate the great Christian festivals in our society is by a little flurry of newspaper articles and television programs raking over the coals of controversies about the historical basis of faith," Williams told worshippers at Canterbury Cathedral Sunday.

Williams, who is the spiritual head of 70 million Anglicans around the globe, said "saturation coverage of the 'Da Vinci Code' literature" and the recent rediscovery of a 1,600-year-old "Gospel of Judas" were part of a widespread desire to expose conspiracies. story