The Obligatory Da Vinci Code Post

I will say up front that I have not read Dan Brown's mega-successful novel The Da Vinci Code. I'll probably see the movie, at some point, but it's not the guiding light of my social calendar. That being said, I'm greatly amused by all the controversy the book engenders. Remember folks, it is just fiction. Nonetheless, USA Today today had not one but two columns about the book from religious folks who are getting riled up in advance of the film's opening this weekend.

One column wonders why The Da Vinci Code is not engendering the negative press in its lead up that The Passion of the Christ did a couple of years ago. The author kind of hints at the reason, but never flat out says it: The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction that is basically a thriller that, at best, should be good for a few hours entertainment. The Passion . . ., on the other hand, purported to be an accurate (viscerally so) depiction of Jesus's final hours, based on the historical accuracy of the Gospels. The film was supposed to have great impact beyond the entertaining. Thus, the stakes were higher, in non-commercial terms at least, for The Passion . . ..

The other column claims that The Da Vinci Code taps into "the last respectable prejudice in the USA," anti-Catholicism.* Why might that be?

The church remains an easy target because it doesn't play by the rules laid down for modern institutions. Its lack of transparency and accountability give rise to popular resentments and paranoia that are exploited by Brown.

Let's see, the Church sits in the middle of Europe, which in the last century threw off the shackles of monarchial/despotic rule via two bloody World Wars. The Pope enjoys the type of authority and one-man-rule that most royal figureheads would die for. The Church is beholden to no one - if you don't like the doctrine, please see yourself out. Hell, even something as big as the priest pedophile scandal in the USA barely pierced the Church's mystique. Should anybody really be surprised that Brown's skillful yarn about a secretive Church conspiracy should prove so popular. I doubt it has anything with a mass fervor to round up Papists and send them to Gitmo.

* I officially declare the phrase "the last respectable prejudice in the USA" and associated phrases overused and overhyped. It has, in TV terms, jumped the shark. Until the Catholics, redneck Southerners, white males, etc. figure out who really is the last officially prejudiced group in the country, let's retire that phrase.