Reading "Da Vinci Code" does alter beliefs: survey
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - "The Da Vinci Code" has undermined faith in the Roman Catholic Church and badly damaged its credibility, a survey of British readers of Dan Brown's bestseller showed on Tuesday.
People are now twice as likely to believe Jesus Christ fathered children after reading the Dan Brown blockbuster and four times as likely to think the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei is a murderous sect.
"An alarming number of people take its spurious claims very seriously indeed," said Austin Ivereigh, press secretary to Britain's top Catholic prelate Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.
"Our poll shows that for many, many people the Da Vinci Code is not just entertainment," Ivereigh added.
He heads a prominent group of English Roman Catholic monks, theologians, nuns and members of Opus Dei, who commissioned the survey from leading pollster Opinion Research Business (ORB) and have sought to promote Catholic beliefs at a time when the film's release has provoked a storm of controversy.
ORB interviewed more than 1,000 adults last weekend, finding that 60 percent believed Jesus had children by Mary Magdalene -- a possibility raised by the book -- compared with just 30 percent of those who had not read the book.
The English group demanded that the "Da Vinci Code" movie, being given its world premiere at the Cannes Film festival on Wednesday, should carry a "health warning".
The group, which stopped short of following the Vatican line of calling on Catholics to boycott the film, accused Brown of dishonest marketing based on peddling fiction as fact. Continued...
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2 comments:
I recently heard a good point about the movie and book. Many people say that it's just fiction. Well besides seeing that many people aren't taking it as fiction, it is insulting to our faith. Would people think the same thing if there were a book that insulted their mom or dad? Would it be okay to talk bad about them regardless if it were fact or fiction?
Another interesting point is that a play was made in the 50's or 60's that said Pope Pius XII was Hitler's Pope. Look what has happened there since that play was released. No one had suggested before that play that Pius XII was working with the Nazi's....now it seems that everyone just assumes he did. Fiction can be harmful...there is no doubt about that.
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