ScribbledBabbling.com

Google “da vinci code” and the search returns more than 48 million results. The local papers also have been featuring this more than usual since the film adaptation is set to open on May 18.

I read the book last year and I haven’t picked it up since reading it. After hearing the buzz about the book and then buckling to the pressure of procuring a copy for myself, it was kind of a let down for me. Don’t get me wrong, the intrigue and controversy was there but it didn’t really measure up to what I think is good writing. It felt sophomoric at best. But hey, what do I know. After all, I collect romances right? But I digress…

Some of the things that Dan Brown raised are not even new to me. I have encountered snippets of it from diverse sources like the television shows MacGyver and Relic Hunter to movies like National Treasure and countless books I have read throughout my lifetime. Of course, the major controversy here is what it supposes as fact, that Mary Magdalene is the wife of Jesus and that they have procreated. (Sorry to those who have been living under a rock and haven’t read the book or have heard what this is all about.) I may be too simplistic in my thinking but I don’t think any of these things would have come to head if people paid attention where the book is classified. Yes, people, this is FICTION.

Dan Brown did not say that what he wrote is real. He took several theories and weaved a tale of mystery and suspense around it. I find it grating that some people who don’t seem to get it are now labeling this as the “Gospel according to Dan Brown”. Dan Brown is not claiming to be prophet.

If this didn’t go to the bestseller lists, nobody would have paid attention to it. The Catholic Church would not have answered back with several pronouncements, groups (READ: Philippine Alliance Against Pornography Inc. and other like-minded groups) would not have gotten on the bandwagon, the Opus Dei would not be sending out press releases (or they could since the picture painted of them in the book is undesirable. And that term is even an understatement.) and people would not be talking about it this way.

I am Catholic and a practicing one at that. I spent 11 years in a Catholic school run by nuns. I go to church regularly and take communion. I pray the rosary with my family every day. Reading “The Da Vinci Code” and other books with a similar theme has not turned me away from religion. I take these books, movies and TV shows on their entertainment value. If I am curious about what I encountered I search, read up on it and that’s it. For me, faith is something more than facts and theories. Faith goes much deeper than that. My relationship with my Maker will not be shattered by a single book that tells me something opposed to what the Church doctrines have labeled as truth.

The hullabaloo that they are raising now presupposes that the masses cannot think for themselves and that their thoughts and actions are generally swayed by what is popular. We are thinking , feeling rational creatures who can separate what is fiction and what is not.

Edited with additonal links and pictures