What are people's opinions on Catholicism after reading the Da Vinci Code?

Question

As a Catholic, it certainly didn't dent my faith, it only served to reinforce it. What a load of rubbish. Brown certainly hasn't done his homework and the book is an insult to intelligent people.

Answer 1

It is a work of fiction, so why should it change any ones thoughts about Catholicism.
Reading Silence of the Lambs didn't change my thoughts about Chianti

Answer 2

The book is actually an insult to unintelligent catholics who fail to study the history of their religion as well.

If you read all of the book, you would see in plain sight, that it says the book is a work of fiction. But I guess intelligent people have no use for reading the entire book, they can just read what they want from it. Kind of like how all forms of christianity do with the bible. It is my opinion that the bible is an insult to the intelligent people of this world. I mean come on, how many college educated people will you find that believe in the invisible man?

To not study your own history is unintelligent to say the least. It has been known for many hudreds of years that the catholic church has become very efficient at covering things up that it did not want people to know.

I for one think the idea is highly plausable, given the time period in which Jesus lived. Not to mention, the architecture in France, which is where Mary "the whore," as so conveniently called by the catholics, has many many buildings dedicated to her. Odd one would think, you know since she was suppose to be a whore and all.

Answer 3

Well I think think the "church" and the Da Vinci code are guilty of doing exactly the same thing. Making things up to how they think the world should be and should have been. We all know about the ancient synods where the roman bishops decided many of our christian customs. Maybe the church should stop moaning and realise its just as guilty of all the falsehood and actually start reading the bible. Where is December the 25th in Bible? Where is the word Easter in the Bible? Where is saints in the Bible? Err. So if you want to go to church every day of the week I see no difference in you going to the cinema once a week. If your christian Read the bible, make up your own mind. Don't let other people tell you how to live your faith and get on with it.

Answer 4

It did not change. The DaVinci code greatly damaged the Catholic church, but you must accept that is was admitted fiction.

Some people just like to make up claims simply to bash the Roman Catholic church. Sure, some things in the Church are clearly wrong, but that doesn't give other Christians the right to try to bring Catholics down.

Answer 5

May 16, 2006

GUESS WHO BELIEVES “DA VINCI CODE” FABLE?

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on who is likely to believe the “Da Vinci Code”:

“According to Reuters, those in England who read the Dan Brown novel are twice as likely to believe the tale that Jesus had children with Mary Magdalene. Perhaps the most astounding figure is the 30 percent who believe this and haven’t read the book, not the 60 percent who read it and believe it to be true. To explain this, consider the data in the U.S.

“In a USA/Gallup poll taken this month, 72 percent of Americans said that no movie had ever had a profound effect on their religious beliefs in any positive or negative way; 21 percent said they saw a movie that strengthened their beliefs; and 4 percent said they saw a film that caused them to question their religious beliefs. A Barna Group survey reported yesterday that 24 percent of those who read the book said it was helpful in relation to their ‘personal growth or understanding.’ And only 5 percent said they changed any of their religious beliefs because of the Da Vinci Code.

“Why the disparity between England and the U.S.? There is an inverse correlation between religiosity and belief in the Da Vinci Code’s thesis: the more likely one is to attend church, the less likely he or she is to believe the book’s thesis. For example, the 2001 British census revealed that 72 percent consider themselves Christian, but only 8 percent regularly attend church services. Now consider that in the 2004 presidential election, 59 percent of regular churchgoers voted for Bush and only 35 percent of regular attendees went for Kerry. Couple this with the Barna data which found that liberals were twice as likely as conservatives to have altered their religious beliefs after reading the book, and the implications are obvious: those most likely to swallow the Da Vinci Code’s moonshine are those with the weakest faith, and those who are liberals (often one and the same).

“In other words, it’s always easy to seduce liberals—just invite them to reject religion, especially Christianity—and watch them lap it up.”

Answer 6

i don't think that anyone with a lick of intelligence would have their opinion of the catholic church altered by dan brown. so much of what the man says is obvious nonsense (even his description of st. james park is wrong) that none of his claims can be taken seriously.

his attack on opus dei is vicious, bigoted and grotesquely unfair though.

but then again some people get off on books where black people are evil, others enjoy books where all women are stupid (and interestingly enough all the women in dan brown are pretty supernumerary ditzes).

Answer 7

I'm not Catholic. Neither am I stupid. Dan Brown believes that history as we know it is relative, and so he attempts to propose an alternate series of possibilities and to challenge the accepted historical record. He credits his wife for his great "research" for the book, and only ends up making them both look foolish.

Answer 8

Didn't change my opinion at all. The book was actually very mild compared to Roman Catholic history!

Answer 9

The insult to intelligent people is the number of UNintelligent people who try to make a FICTIONAL story anything more than what it actually is.

Answer 10

SWEET HEART, I USED TO BE CATHOLIC..AND IF YOU ARE REALLY EDUCATED YOU WOULD KNOW THAT SOME OF THE PRACTICES THAT THE CATHOLICS DO ARE NO GOOD. BUT I TELL YOU THAT I DONT BELIEVE THAT GOD HAD KIDS AND ALL THAT...READ THE BIBLE MORE AND YOULL FIND OUT THAT CATHOLICS DO A LOT OF THINGS THAT AREN'T SUPOSSED TO BE DONE!YOU BKNOW YOU SHOULD TRY GOING TO ANOTHER CHURCH...DO YOU ACTUALY LISTEN TO WHAT YOUR"FATHER" IS TALKING ABOUT? LISTEN TO A PASTOR FOR A CHANGE!

Answer 11

I agree fullheartedly - tho it is sad to see and hear the media's focus on those who are not grounded in their faith or following Christian beliefs that are now repeating this fiction as fact and "proof" of conspiracy theory and lies within the church and the Bible and the core of our belief/faith.... which is concerning when you think of seeking or lost souls that may be influenced.