Free Republic

Good money in rewriting Christ story Success of The Da Vinci Code raised ante for religious revisionism Lorne Gunter, The Edmonton Journal Published: Sunday, April 16, 2006 John Robson of the Ottawa Citizen says of the publishing world that this is its "Was Christ a black lesbian?" season. Each year before Easter, book and periodical publishers inundate us with features and new volumes disputing the divinity of Jesus. Or his death and resurrection. Or even whether he existed at all. (In his The Pagan Christ, released just before Easter 2004, Canadian author Thomas Harpur postulates there never was a...

Part of a crowd of 1,500 parishioners from the Archdiocese of Winnipeg walk with a wooden cross during Good Friday celebrations in Winnipeg. They joined many more Christians around the world in affirming their belief in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians will fill churches today to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, an event celebrated in the Bible's New Testament. But outside church walls, sacred Christian texts are under attack by scholars and in popular culture. From the fictional juggernaut of The Da Vinci Code to the historical account of the Judas Gospel to the scholarly critique of...

In a world accepting of docudramas and reality TV shows that aren't real, how does one counter a blockbuster movie whose theme challenges the orthodox religious history of the Western world? That's the task facing Christians already distressed by Dan Brown's wildly popular novel, "The Da Vinci Code," and his claim that the thriller is based on historical facts. With sales of more than 40 million, the book has become a cultural phenomenon. Unless the copyright-infringement trial in London (which now awaits the judge's decision) brings an injunction against use of the material, the May release of the film starring...

Somewhere on my "to-do" list for the year -- No. 116, No. 117 or something like that, right after "rearrange sock drawer" -- is when I picked up Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" to ascertain, if possible, why a whacked-out account of Christian origins has earnest people debating the whacked-out implications. The inevitable movie version, produced by Sony, comes out in May. We're agog to know what people will think of seeing -- not just reading about, but seeing -- Jesus depicted marrying Mary Magdalene and having children with her, and a Catholic lay organization depicted murdering folks so...

LONDON – Attention-shy writer Dan Brown completed three days of tough courtroom scrutiny yesterday, acknowledging he reworked other writers’ material but rejecting claims he copied two authors’ work for his mega-selling thriller “The Da Vinci Code.” Appearing as a witness for publisher Random House, Brown appeared increasingly tired during lengthy cross-examination that dwelled on the details of his research process and minutiae such as whether the word “savior” should be spelled with a u. Writers Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh are suing Random House, Brown’s publisher, for copyright infringement at London’s High Court, claiming “The Da Vinci Code” “appropriated the...

US Catholic bishops launched a stinging Internet counter-attack on the best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code," ahead of the release of Ron Howard's film version in May. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops launched a new website refuting key claims made in Dan Brown's novel that are likely to be brought to the big screen in Howard's movie, starring Tom Hanks. "'The Da Vinci Code' is a mess, a riot of laughable errors and serious misstatements. Almost every page has at least one of each," the bishops wrote on the website Jesusdecoded.com. "What this novel does (is) ... asks...