Catholic "truth squads" battle against Davinci Code's historical inaccuracy!

Evangelical and Catholic groups are attempting to prove the “facts” written in the hugely popular novel and upcoming movie The DiVinci Code are wrong, not by boycotting or protesting, but by releasing “truth squads”
of data. These include books, study guides, DVDs, websites, and TV documentaries that are historically
accurate and invalidate the so-called facts of the best-selling novel written by Dan Brown. These “facts” from
the novel include Jesus Christ’s marriage to prostitute Mary Magdeline and their surviving bloodline, that the
divinity of Jesus did not exist until the Council of Nicea, and that the Church has gone to murderous lengths to
conceal these conspiracies over the centuries. Although these statements are basically untrue and have little
evidence supporting them, many believe that the Code is not about an accurate historical portrayal, but rather
about raising deep questions about the Church and inspiring an infinite amount of world wide discussion.
Theology professors nation wide state people, including church-supporters and non-Catholics, stand up and
want to discuss it. However, people serious about their religious faith do not like the fact that Dan Brown has
miseducated the 40 million people who have bought his book. William Edgar, a professor of apologetics at
Westminster Theological Seminary, says "While we recognize the right to present a good yarn, we're concerned
the mix of fact and fiction is sure to lead many to question the Bible's integrity, its message, and Christianity's
impact on history.” Sony, the company producing the DaVinci Code movie set up the website,
www.thedavincidialogue.com for healthy and just discussion of the novel.

The controversy over the DaVinci Code can be compared to the uproar over the 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ based on the 1951 novel The Last Temptation . The novel, written by Nikos Kazantzakis, was a heavily banned book that told Jesus’s story though his point of view where He struggles with the human emotions of man, such as fear, lust, weakness, depression, reluctance, and doubt. However, Kazantzakis states in the novel’s preface that Christ is the perfect model for human beings, because He did not succumb to the “temptations of the flesh”. In the 1980s Martin Scorsese directed the film based on Kazantzaki’s book, and before the film was released or done shooting there were widespread protests lead by the religious community. They were enraged by the media picking Christ as subject matter, and major religious leaders gave blazing and damning sermons denouncing the film as blasphemous pornography. In October of 1988 French Catholic fundamentalists threw molotav cocktails in the Saint Michel cinema in Paris as a violent protest again the film playing there, and fourteen people were burned and injured.