Can we do an Anti-boycott? Can we all go see this, and bring friends? Apparently, it’s a “punishable offense”, but perhaps the Catholic Church shouldn’t be talking about punishing offenders until they stop committing such offenses themselves.
ROME (AP) – A Vatican official reportedly called for a boycott of the upcoming “The Da Vinci Code” film Friday, saying it contained “slanderous” offenses against Christianity that would have provoked a worldwide revolt had they been directed against Islam or the Holocaust.Monsignor Angelo Amato – Pope Benedict XVI’s former No. 2 when Benedict was head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith – made the comments in a speech at the Pontifical Holy Cross University, which is run by the conservative Catholic movement Opus Dei, the ANSA news agency reported.”I hope all of you boycott this film,” the Italian agency quoted Amato as saying. He said the film, based on the best-selling novel by Dan Brown, was full of “offenses, slander, historical and theological errors concerning Jesus, the gospel and the church.”"Slander, offenses and errors that if they were directed toward the Quran or the Shoah would have justifiably provoked a worldwide revolt,” he said, referring to Islam’s holy book and the Hebrew word for Holocaust. “Yet because they were directed toward the Catholic Church, they remain ‘unpunished,’” he said.
If this whole Da Vince Code thing gets even a few people to question their beliefs and hopefully abandon it then it will be well worth it.
I suggest that every person in here ask a friend to see the movie with them and even offer to buy the tickets.
Alex.
I plan on going to see it and I only get to the movies once or twice a year. I will got to a IMAX but that’s different, it’s usually science based. I’m a pay-per-view kind of guy and just put it on my DVR if I want to see a movie.
I am glad that the book makes wackos angry. I am less than happy that it may someday start a new mythology(and a new group of wackos). If it hasn’t already done so. It is curious that the author calls it a complete fiction, while believers begin to assemble. Seems a bit familiar. The entire judeo-christian-muslim theology is fiction and people still murder each other over the details.
Alex-
Thanks for the synopsis of the book. Seems pretty silly of the Catholic church to get in an uproar over this book – but I guess they get upset over any challenge to their doctrine.
You recommended V For Vendetta to me and I really enjoyed it, so I might go see DaVinci on your recommendation.
You might be my new favorite movie critic!
pnuhn@gampac.org
Too funny – and too true!
I’m sorry I can’t go along with the original suggestion of an anti-boycott.
I am going to boycott the movie: because Tom Hanks can’t act his way out of a paper bag.
I’m not going to see this movie, it’s a waste of $ and time. Matter of fact, I can’t remember the last time I went to a movie theater.
I have a hard time reading fiction anymore, it’s as bad as TV.
I am busy Friday but I will see it some time. Anything to make the people who despise me think about their faith. I hope this movie opens some eyes in this blind country, kinda like The Matrix. I love movies that make you think.
i cannot go to movies because of all the idiots
Regarding the woman whose son no longer believes in Jesus because of the DaVinci Code:
I don’t see why people see their faith as something that delicate. Like, you look the wrong way, and *poof* it will be gone.
People can’t take it from you. Nobody can make you give up your faith.
There are often instances in which people do give up their faith. I don’t believe their faith was strong to begin with.
Relating this back to another thread, about that angry Rabbi who thought many atheists had merely had a bad encounter with a religious person or something of the sort, I feel the same way. Personally, one of a few big turning points for me INVOLVED some horsesh!t going on in my church, and a few bad-natured people encountered there.
But that’s certainly not to say that I’m an atheist because of these things! I wouldn’t be a faithful believer again if someone could prove to me that these were just bad apples or something.
The seed was planted in my mind from the beginning. All it took was something to make me look. Maybe that’s all this son needed. It might be a work of fiction, but maybe he just needed someone to get him thinking to give up his faith.
I think this woman is just terribly upset that her son is a godless heathen, and rather than believing he’s a horrible person to be an atheist, she’d rather blame it on someone whose name is already surrounded by controversy to begin with.
The bible-thumpers are upset by Dan Brown even though he writes fiction. That is no surprise because they are great fans of and believe in the fiction of their good book.
If you can believe the bible is real, why not believe that Dan Brown’s book is real?
This is great. The shoe is on the other foot when the Church is worried that an obvious work of fiction is going to have an impact on people’s faith. How many times does it have to be pointed out that this is just a fictional story. Just goes to show you what the church think of their followers intellegence level. Oh the sweet irony.
that guy can’t write books anyways. he writes to a 12-year-old audience. i guess that’s why the church is mad; it’s above their reading level.
I think it’s funny how a few years ago, Jewish groups got really upset over “Passion of Christ” or whatever that Mel Gibson movie was, and all Christians did was say that they were being outrageous, etc. And now that Christians are upset about a movie that critizes them, they want people to boycott the movie. Strange…when a movie makes other groups angry, those people are just silly, but when it makes them angry, people shouldn’t see it.
I read Da Vinci Code in the beginning of 2003 and I thought it was ok…nothing I would read again. I’ll probably see the movie, but after it’s been out for a few weeks, when all those who belong to the cult of Dan Brown have already seen it a few times. It might be a good one for the drive-in theater…then if it’s stupid, I can always turn around and watch another movie. It just amuses me that people have to write non-fiction books about how a fiction book was, well, a work of fiction.
Yes I will go see it…
I support this action!
Crazy Filipinos….
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2006-05-10T125058Z_01_MAN152651_RTRUKOC_0_US-PHILIPPINES-DAVINCI.xml&src=rss
Surely they should be more concerned about a supernatural means of retribution than a natural one.
If the Vatican calls for the boycott of this fiction film, it is not because they are afraid of it or feels that is going to change believers faith. It is understandable to find this film offensive to Christianity. Wouldn’t you be offended if somebody insults someone you love? It is like writing a fiction book about Hitler claiming that he was a wonderful and caring human being and everything we all know about him are pure lies. How would jews feel about it? Well that is the same principle. I am Christian-Catholic and nothing in a million years will change my beliefs. I respect atheists or any other religious groups. The good thing about this world is that we all can be tolerant with each other and never pretend that we know the absolute truth because only a fool would think such a thing.
jessy:
That’s just tough stuff. Don’t like? Don’t watch.
Be careful what you say. You may end up w/egg on your face.
We’re NOT a religious group.
‘Live & let live’, eh? Well, maybe your side of the fence needs to learn that lesson a little better.
jessy,
I actually think you are wrong. religious authorities have been at pains to repeat the message that this is fiction (duh) and should not be considered as truth by the faithful. This indicates that they view this not as an insult but as a threat to existing dogma.