By Laurie Goodstein May 1, 2004

Fearing that the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code may be sowing doubt about basic Christian beliefs, a host of Christian churches, clergy members and Bible scholars are rushing to rebut it.

In the past 13 months, readers have bought more than 6 million copies of the book, a historical thriller that claims Christianity was founded on a cover-up – that the church has conspired for centuries to hide evidence that Jesus was a mere mortal, married Mary Magdalene and had children whose descendants now live in France.

Word that Hollywood director Ron Howard is making a movie based on the book has only intensified the critics’ campaign. More than 10 books are being released with titles that promise to break, crack, unlock or decode The Da Vinci Code. Churches are offering pamphlets and study guides for readers who may have been prompted by the novel to question their faith.

“Because this book is such a direct attack against the foundation of the Christian faith, it’s important that we speak out,” said Reverend Erwin Lutzer, author of The Da Vinci Deception and senior pastor of Moody Church in Chicago.

Among critics are evangelical Protestants and Catholics who regard the novel, which is laced with passages celebrating feminism, anti-clericalism and pagan forms of worship, as another infiltration by liberal cultural warriors.

The critics and their publishers are hoping to surf the wave of success of The Da Vinci Code, which has been at the top of The New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list for 56 weeks.

Of the 10 new Da Vinci-related books, eight are by Christian publishers. One evangelical Christian publisher, Tyndale House, which hit gold with the Left Behind books, is about to issue two titles rebutting The Da Vinci Code.

Dan Brown, the former schoolteacher who wrote The Da Vinci Code, is declining all interview requests, his publisher says, because he is at work on his next book. But Brown says on his website that he welcomes the scholarly debates about his book. While it is a work of fiction, he says, “it is my own personal belief that the theories discussed by these characters have merit”.

There is evidence Brown’s novel may be shaping the beliefs of a generation that is biblically illiterate. Michael Martin, a Vermont teacher, said:

“We like conspiracy theories, so if it’s JFK or Jesus, people want to think there’s something more than what they are telling us – they in this case being the church.”

The New York Times

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/30/1083224590902.html#