Breaking the code of misconception
By Linda Ober
The CitizenSunday,
May 14, 2006

For Rev. Doug Taylor-Weiss, debunking Dan Brown's “The Da Vinci Code” is nothing if not easy.

“(Brown) got almost all of the facts wrong; some of them are just laughable,” said Taylor-Weiss, of SS. Peter and John Episcopal Church in Auburn. “Shooting down ‘The Da Vinci Code' is kind of like shooting fish in a barrel.”

Though book reviewers are singing its praises as a historical thriller and moviegoers are eagerly anticipating this week's debut of the film, Brown's work has become notorious among some religious leaders and their parishioners.

Why all the fuss?

“The Da Vinci Code” portrays Jesus as not divine but mortal and asserts that he was married to Mary Magdalene and had a child with her. The novel is a search for the Holy Grail, which the characters believe not to be Jesus' cup but instead Mary and his royal bloodline with her. As the story goes, the Church has been covering this up for centuries. A secret society known as the Priory of Sion has been guarding this truth for posterity, and Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organization, is now trying to ensure that it's kept under wraps. the rest


'Code' as a Blessing in Heretical Disguise
In a Shift, Some Christians See Movie as Bridge to Nonbelievers
By Michelle Boorstein and Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 14, 2006

Greg Beatty's first look at "The Da Vinci Code" came when a neighbor reached across his back fence in 2003 and handed the Catholic lawyer the book and a question: Is this true?

After reading the novel, Beatty saw the questioning spread from his Springfield yard to his downtown office at the National Labor Relations Board. Was Jesus really married? Do some members of the Catholic group Opus Dei really wear self-mutilating belts? Beatty could answer some things but not others. the rest