Catholic website counters Da Vinci Code

July 22nd, 2005 by Monitor

Launched to coincide with the feast day of St Mary Magdelene, a new website by the Catholic Enquiry Office seeks to counter the misinformation of Dan Brown’s best-selling The Da Vinci Code.

Speaking to The Times, Monsignor Keith Barltrop, director of the CEO said,

There is huge interest in the book. It poses as the truth but it clearly is not. It is a damn good read but it is a long way from the truth.

In case you were wondering, the website contains a link to an article which explains “How can we know what is true and real?” (warning: Word download), which in turn explains how Monsignor Barltrop can make such statements with confidence. From the article:

Catholics believe that God is the source of all life and truth, the source of all that is created – therefore it logically follows that if you do not know him you can not know the truth about the world in which you live, the afterlife and ultimately yourself.

To be exact, it logically follows that Catholics believe that if you do not know him… etc. Small quibble.

The Da Vinci Code is due to be released as a movie next year, and will be filmed at Lincoln. Westminster Abbey refused permission to film on its premises claiming that the novel was “theologically unsound”. More tautology, vicar?


4 Responses to “Catholic website counters Da Vinci Code”

  1. John boy says:
    22/Jul/2005 at 4:24 pm

    Poses as truth but clearly is not? The bible springs to mind.

  2. G. Tingey says:
    22/Jul/2005 at 6:15 pm

    Go to the Roslin Chapel – really weird – nothing at all to do with conventiona christianity.

    Ah: Theology …
    “Theology is either a subject with no content, or one which must ultimately become a branch of physics”
    Prof. Frank Tipler.

  3. Christopher Shell says:
    27/Jul/2005 at 10:42 am

    Theologically unsound? Try historically inaccurate.

  4. Mister Thorne says:
    10/Aug/2005 at 6:03 pm

    They remind me of the fundamentalist Muslims who reacted so vehemently to Salman Rushdie’s book ‘The Satanic Verses.’ I’m talking about the fundamentalist Catholics who are all worked up about a movie based on ‘The DaVinci Code.’

    In both cases, the fundamenalists rely upon their favorite works of fiction (the Holy Bible, the Koran) to blast a modern work of fiction.

    Talk about some small-minded hypocrites!