I don’t know if I would have been flattered by all the attention I’ve been getting of late if I were Mr Dan Brown. First his lawyers and that nasty lawsuit business. Now the Opus Dei group and a number of Christian groups/leaders around the world as well. Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code has – to date – sold more than 40 million copies in hardback and half a million in paperback. Some of the things mentioned about this supposedly offending book of his are as follows (as quoted from a variety of articles available on BBC.com):

CCK [Christian Council of Korea] said the film was “an insult and defamation” of the holiness of Jesus Christ and the Bible.

The group added that they were “concerned about the damage that would be caused to individuals’ faith” because of the film’s content. – Da Vinci film faces ban in Korea, BBC.com

The Roman Catholic Church in Italy has spoken out against what it says are “shameful and unfounded lies” in the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code.

…

“One of the ways in which we now celebrate the great Christian festivals in our society is by a little flurry of newspaper articles and television programs raking over the coals of controversies about the historical basis of faith,” Williams told worshippers at Canterbury Cathedral Sunday. – Church fights Da Vinci Code novel, BBC.com

The organisation says children should be protected from what it calls “insidious” lies about Catholicism.

Spokesman Marc Carroggio said: “Any adult can distinguish reality from fiction. But you cannot expect a child to make proper judgements.”

The group has aroused controversy in the past, with critics calling it secretive and ultra-conservative. – Call for Da Vinci ‘adult rating’, BBC.com

While it may seem that church groups and associations here have been silent on the matter (now I could be wrong on this one), believe you me when I say that one doesn’t have to speak with a loudspeaker in order to be heard. Recently the youth group from my church sent out a mass email containing details about a supposed talk on The Da Vinci Code. Its objectives were to clarify the content of the book and to reaffirm the beliefs of Christians. As mentioned by one of the more “senior” members of the group, “we need to reaffirm WHY we believe in our faith”. The email, as you may imagine, spark a whole lot of comments, one of which made me break my silent observer spell. The email hinted at how such behaviour only serve to popularised this scam/sham of a book and that we Christians were, in actual fact, doing Dan Brown a huge favour.

The reaction I see here and around world reminded me of that little saga with JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series and how it was deemed to have been promoting witchcraft and the black arts to children. Then, I thought this: Trust the fundamentalists to take the fun out of everything. My church had a hiccup or two about her books but it never posed much of an interest to me to debate on such things. Back then, I was hardly this questioning or critical of everything around me, especially my faith. I was…apathetic, to say the least, and I had other more pressing matters on my mind.

But this…this was interesting, especially more so when similarities to another event not too long ago can be found. Remember those horrible cartoons and the calls for boycotts of Danish produce? What I found troubling was the calls for a complete ban of the film and books (or at least a boycott). The fundamentalists, I dare say, would go so far as to label these written works as the work of the Devil himself. (Yes, I know a few people who have refused to read/watch certain films because they were, according to these same people, “insulting” to Christianity.)

I know how some of my fellow Christians probably think Dan Brown is disrespectful simply because he chose to highlight certain discourses of the faith. But is really writing a story being disrespectful to its themes and influences? Was Harry Potter disrespectful to the whole boarding school idea? Or to fantasy themes/icons? I believe some of us recall the incident involving Salman Rushdie and The Satanic Verses. Is this going to be similar to that?

In his previous novel, Angels & Demons, Dan Brown wrote of individuals searching to find a way to bring together science and religion since the two were often butting heads. Vetra, a researcher and priest, believed that science was an arm of faith and could be used to prove the very existence of God and the creation of man, ie Genesis, to which he did. Now, is the thought of science and religion living in harmony really insulting or disrespectful to Christianity? Is it so hard to believe that God, who is capable of human emotion and feelings, is also a scientific, rational and logic being with a great sense of humour and a talent for creativity beyond this world and beyond our comprehension?

If anything must be said about this book, then let it be this: it serves to prompt people into questioning and with those questions comes more enlightenment and knowledge that serves to benefit everyone – think of Thomas Aquinas and his philosophy on virtue, God and evil (which is being taught around the world under Philosophy 101 among other things). The saint would probably be considered the black sheep of the church by some of my more devote peers.

“In order to fight evil, I must know evil.” – Angels & Demons, Dan Brown.

Perhaps what needs to be done is not a complete ban of the book, which is marketed and labelled as a work of fiction, but an attempt to study and understanding it for what it is. Reading it would be the first step and reading it wholly without prejudice or bias.

As for the need to re-educate Christians who may believe in Gnostic themes and the Gospel of Judas, well, if you call yourself a Christian, you should know what your faith is based on and the teachings of your faith. You should be confident and knowledgeable, right from the moment you accepted Christ into your life. I like to believe that our faiths and beliefs are way stronger than any story, myth or fantasy being rehashed and retold through various forms of the media. I like to believe that we have confidence in our faiths and beliefs.

As Dad summed up in our very short discussion, “Ask yourself what the Christian faith is based on. It is the Bible and only the Bible. So really, what is the problem?”

Have we become so caught up with the whole idea of being the perfect Christian that we forget one of the tenets of our faith? Have we lost sight of the trees in our search for the forest?

If non-believers were to believe whatever that is written in Brown’s book, then has it really change anything about the Christian challenge of spreading God’s word? I’m willing to bet that even Jesus Christ never had a great time preaching to Jews and Gentiles alike. Why should we kick up a fuss and denounce a man who is only trying to make a living? Are we that “weak” in our faith that we must trample on those who think differently about it? Bear in mind that Brown didn’t just cook up those theories. They were influenced from actual historical facts and items. If we must find anyone to blame, then blame the ones who brought about those items and facts in the first place.

Go to the heart of the problem and not linger on the surface. If Christians doubt their faith, then the issue lies not with the object that brought about doubt itself but with the Christian him/herself.

We do not live in a world comprising of just one faith, one ethnicity, and one belief. This was not how God intended for the world to be, despite what many of my fellow believers think.

Look at it this way.

Without bad, there can never be good.

Without darkness, there can never be light.

Without hell, what is heaven?

Without Satan, God would be out of business.

Really, I think we should sometimes just take a chill pill and worry about how WE ourselves have to answer to the Big Man when it is time to meet the maker.