The Catholic Standard & Times - Dan Brown’s dangerous new genre: Not fiction, but ‘faction’

Dan Brown’s dangerous new genre: Not fiction, but ‘faction’

by Susan Brinkmann
CS&T Correspondent

Experts are warning the public not to downplay the effect of Dan Brown’s blasphemous thriller, “The Da Vinci Code.”

According to a recent survey conducted by the Barna Group, two million adults said they changed their religious beliefs or perspectives because of the book’s content. Although that number represents only 5 percent of the 45 million who say they have read the book, the report warns people not to take it lightly.

“That’s more people than will change any of their beliefs as a result of exposure to the teaching offered at all of the nation’s Christian churches combined during a typical week,” the Barna researchers warned.

A profile of the audience of readers turned up some disturbing facts: “Despite critical comments and warnings from the Catholic hierarchy, American Catholics are more likely than Protestants to have read it” — 24 percent Catholics, compared to 15 percent Protestants.

Among Protestant readers, those affiliated with a mainline church are almost three times more likely than non-mainline Protestants to read the book. People with college degrees and a household income over $60,000 are nearly four times more likely to read the book than people without degrees and whose income level is $30,000 or less.

The survey of 1,003 people, taken in May this year, found that, overall, few people changed their pre-existing beliefs because of what they read in the novel: “The book generates controversy and discussions, but it has not revolutionized the way Americans think about Jesus, the Church or the Bible.”

However, the authors of the survey warned that “any book that alters one or more theological views among two million people is not to be dismissed lightly.”

The number-two official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Archbishop Angelo Amato, urged a boycott of the film, and Francis Cardinal Arinze, the Nigerian prelate once considered to be a candidate for pope, said Christians should take action.

“Christians must not just sit back and say it is enough for us to forgive and to forget,” Cardinal Arinze said during a documentary he made for “Rome Reports,” titled, “The Da Vinci Code — A Masterful Deception.”

“Sometimes it is our duty to do something practical. So it is not I who will tell all Christians what to do but some know legal means which can be taken in order to get the other person to respect the rights of others,” ”Arinze said.

Respect for religious beliefs is a fundamental human right, he said. “We should be respected, our religious beliefs respected, and our Founder, Jesus Christ, respected.”

Unfortunately, the film’s director, Ron Howard, sees things differently. No amount of persuasion was able to convince him that the plethora of inaccuracies contained in the book-turned-movie warranted at least a disclaimer to avoid deliberately misleading the public.

“We wrote to Ron Howard in March of 2005 and requested a disclaimer,” said Kiera McCaffrey, director of communications for the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. “When he didn’t answer us, we published an open letter to him in the New York Times in March 2006, asking him again. We still didn’t receive any response from him.”

The movie opened with no disclaimer, despite the fact that Hollywood has put disclaimers on movies that might offend other groups such as: Asians (“Year of the Dragon”); blacks (“Birth of the Nation”); homosexuals (“Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”); and Native Americans (“Pocahontas II”).

In fact, the Disney company put a disclaimer on the movie “White Fang,” to inform the public that there was no evidence of a healthy pack of wolves attacking humans in North America.

It seems hard to believe that a movie filled with so much contrived information about the Catholic Church would not receive similar treatment.

Hard to believe, but true, McCaffrey said. The movie producers’ attitude was more like, “How dare they ask for a disclaimer?” she said. Instead of responding directly to the League’s requests for a disclaimer, they made plenty of statements about it in the media, McCaffrey said.

“They made statements such as, ‘It’s a thriller, and thrillers don’t receive disclaimers.’ Well, this is very troubling for a couple reasons. One is that a co-producer of “The Da Vinci Code,” John Calley, went on record with the New York Times saying the film is ‘conservatively anti-Catholic.’

“Now, I don’t know what he means by ‘conservatively,’ but you can bet if a film-maker ever called something ‘conservatively anti-Semitic’or ‘conservatively racist,’ the producer would have a little more sympathy toward a group asking for a disclaimer.”

McCaffrey recalled an episode two years ago when Sony was worried that Jews would be offended by the movie version of the Shakespeare play, “Merchant of Venice.”

“Nobody said, ‘It’s just a Shakespeare play that we’re filming,’” McCaffrey said.

But when it comes to “The Da Vinci Code,” the favorite one-liner seems to be “It’s just fiction,” which is probably the only thing about the book and movie that is actually true.

Dan Brown doesn’t really want people to know that, however, which is why he deliberately starts off the book with three so-called “facts” — none of which are remotely true. He then makes appearances on a variety of television shows saying his book is fiction based on fact — or, should we say, “fiction based on fictional facts.”

McCaffrey calls this new genre “faction.”

Whatever it is, industry experts agree, and are warning Church leaders not to take it lightly. “The Da Vinci Code” is a thinly veiled attack on Christianity that has already been read by 45 million adults in the United States, which represents one out of every five adults.

“That makes it the most widely read book with a spiritual theme, other than the Bible, to have penetrated American homes,” the Barna report stated.
Its most significant impact “could well be on the young people who see the movie, since their belief systems are still in the process of development and are more susceptible to new teachings,” according to the report.

That is why media experts are warning Christians, particularly pastors and other religious leaders, not to fall for the “it’s only fiction” line and become complacent about the book and movie.

Ted Baehr, publisher of the “Christian MOVIEGUIDE,” said in an opinion column appearing in Assist News Service (ANS) that those who do so “are deluding themselves about the long-term negative consequences of Dan Brown’s anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, ‘Da Vinci Code’ propaganda.”

“The potential effect of the DVD of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ movie can magnify the impact on millions more people who do not see the movie in the theater.” he said, “and the millions of people, especially young people, who like to watch DVDs over and over again.”

Contact Susan Brinkmann at fiat723@aol.com or (215) 965-4615.