The Da Vinci code is quite the phenomenon. I haven’t seen anything like it in a long time. Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code is simply a genius. Not only has he found a subject that is fascinating to most individuals, but he was able to create a plausible yet fictional story within the context of the catholic religion, the pagans, some religious organizations, renowned savants and artists, and actual locations. It is a controversial mix of history and context that tell a different tale then current beliefs and teachings of the Catholic Church. But it is still fiction. They author himself stated that although the context is based on real locations and real organizations, the story is a fabrication. A clever fabrication I my opinion.

What I find interesting is the aftermath of the book. The current Pope had made a public statement dated before becoming his holy Popeness. He said that anyone who read the book would go to hell. By making this claim, I wonder if he realized that he may just have fulfilled the Jehovah’s witnesses belief that only 144,000 people will actually make it to heaven, because that’s about the count of the people who didn’t read the book! But in all seriousness, the initial reaction of the Catholic Church was a little excessive and somewhat primitive in my opinion. Trying to prevent people from exposure to creativity and logic is something that would be done by oh… I don’t know… the Taliban Regime. Does the Church want to sink that low? And over what? A book that was always intended to be fictional! Maybe they didn’t get that memo.

Yesterday I drove by a religious store. They had a big sign outside advertising one of their books which was titled “The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction”. Fiction! Dammit it’s fiction! The author said it was fiction, what the hell do you want more? Go to www.danbrown.com and see for yourself! I quote his website: “The Da Vinci Code is a novel and therefore a work of fiction.”

But the Church doesn’t seem to grasp the statements. Instead, they are organizing seminars! It’s true! On the 31^st of this month, there is a priest who will come to one of the many churches in my town to “discuss” the Da Vinci code.

Don’t you think that in the end, the whole hype that was generated by the book was only accentuated by the actions and reactions of the Church? Don’t you think that it’s plausible that their response to a simple yet clever novel indirectly lead to the making of its movie? I mean, Angels and Demons, the other book by Dan Brown that features the brilliant escapades of Robert Langdon at a time prior to the events that take place in the Da Vinci Code was, in my opinion, even better, and more controversial: It implicates the heads of the Church in a very desperate plot to renew Christian faith, and the murder of the pope!

In the end, I have to ask myself if it really would matter if the story told in the Da Vinci code was in fact true. I mean, the story presented to us from a young age by the Catholic Church is a plausible one, but not a verifiable one. This would be true for the Da Vinci Code if the author had claimed it to be factual. You would have two stories that contradict each other, with two sides defending themselves against the other. Shouldn’t the spiritual journey be based on the values preached by the religious group, no matter which group it is, and not on claims that are not verifiable? In the end, would it really matter who was right and who was wrong? Personally, I wouldn’t really care if Jesus had married or not. I think it would be cool, but it doesn’t affect in anyway what I believe in today. It doesn’t change anything.

I had already rejected some of the doctrines of the Catholic Church prior to this book coming out, and it was because I didn’t agree with them personally. Not because of historical fact and claims. As an example, I disagree with the idea that women shouldn’t be allowed to become priests. You’d think that anyone who would willingly want to dedicate their lives to preaching the teachings of God would be welcomed with open arms, but no. The Catholic Church is an arrogant organization. It is a fact. They have demonstrated their arrogance and their refusal to evolve on so many occasions.  Because of this, I tend to adapt the preaching of my church to fit my lifestyle and my values. Many others do the same and that makes something that is more and more common: a modern Christian trapped in an obsolete Christian organization.
Christians in general do not want to abandon their church, but a lot of them feel like their church is slowly abandoning them. The slight discomfort within the organization is turning into a never ending awkward moment. It’s easy for a religious group to lay out a story and then use guilt tactics to make you believe them. But it’s getting harder and harder to keep people from questioning things. People evolve, they adapt, and they become more intelligent over time. It’s getting harder and harder for individuals to believe without seeing, and it’s not as easy for religion to rely on this blind faith tactic. It is sad that the Church, like a proud old fool, is too blind to face reality. That attitude will result in the downfall of Christianity. Mark my words.

In the end, all that The Da Vinci Code did was to give a little jolt of energy to those who stood still, one foot in their church, the other outside of it. The actual reactions of the Church made a bigger impact. They just gave a sudden push to the person standing in their doorway. As a result, they either really pissed off that person, or they managed to push them out completely. Way to go guys! And you wonder why the majority of the heads in your church benches are covered in gray hair! HA! You draw to you those you act like the most: Old fools.