That was pretty much where my eyes rolled heavenward, too. IOW, it doesn't matter whether it's fiction or even bald-faced lies, so long as it questions the status quo (which in McLaren's world is always rife with cover-ups and complicities)
You know, I read "The Da Vinci Code" and its precursor, "Angels and Demons". Both are excellent STORIES, with a lot of historical license. I really enjoyed them. But they are STORIES, fiction! And they are now being used as springboard for bashing conventional beliefs and anything deemed "Right"...
It puts to rest the lie that "the evangelical Left leans left but they are still brothers in Christ!".