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The History of a Nationwide Protest Against The Da Vinci CodeSumming it up: Rallies Take Sony to Task for The Da Vinci CodeA Time for Action—The Da Vinci Code RejectedFor all the Stories Telling the History of this Campaign, Click here  Where We Protested:Click the map below for a state-by-state look at the protest effort See the Protest Pictures   Click here for Photo Gallery Read the Blog of the CampaignClick The Da Vinci Code banner below for a two-week day-by-day account of the campaign's most intense days. Da Vinci Code Chronicle: Get the Arguments Against The Da Vinci...

Imagine a 20th Century that still had religious inquisitions, a world where the medieval Catholic Church still controlled everything and everyone. Where people were still burned at the stake, no religious tolerance and a place where everyone feared for their lives. Welcome to the world of Rex Mundi. The first time that I heard about Rex Mundi was while working on the set of Tim Sullivans' Driftwood about a year ago. Famed Rock 'N' Roll KISS photographer turned movie producer Barry Levine mentioned that they were working with Johnny Depp on a film. Sworn to secrecy and under threats of...

It has taken a couple of weeks, but the reviews from evangelical Christian leaders about Mel Gibson's latest performance are now in. Gibson's drunken remarks about "(expletive) Jews" being responsible for "all the wars in the world," which the actor made to a Los Angeles sheriff's deputy who pulled him over on July 28, were "hurtful and unfortunate" (James Dobson), "reprehensible . . . shameful" (the Rev. James Merritt) and "cause for concern" (the Rev. Ted Haggard). But has the actor-director's intemperate speech by the side of a highway prompted any prominent evangelical leader to voice second thoughts about the...

St Luke's Church has links to the Holy Grail story Treasure hunters trying to crack the Da Vinci Code are believed to be behind criminal damage at a village church with links to the Holy Grail. Chisels and hammers were used to chip away at walls inside St Luke's church in Hodnet, Shropshire. The church has attracted many visitors including tourists from overseas after its links to the Holy Grail were featured in a book and website. The Reverend Charmian Beech said: "They seemed to know what they were doing." A number of holes were chiselled into the stonework...

The Reverend Charmian Beech blamed a pair of 'Da Vinci Code-style' treasure hunters for causing thousands of pounds worth of damage as they searched for clues to help them find the Grail. Stonework was chipped off in four areas inside her church as the offenders tried to remove blocks from the walls to see what is behind them, she said.

Until recently, the 14th century church was a place to enjoy some peace and contemplation. But now things have radically changed for St Luke's Church in the village of Hodnet, Shropshire, with visitors lured by claims that it is linked to the Holy Grail mystery. And some, it seems, will go to any lengths to discover the beautiful church's secrets - even if it means taking a hammer and chisel to the walls. The Reverend Charmian Beech blamed a pair of 'Da Vinci Code-style' treasure hunters for causing thousands of pounds worth of damage as they searched for clues to...

Serious movement in D.C. – and if I hadn't been there, I would not have believed it. For several months Joan Wire and her daughter have been trying to secure an appointment with a highly effective government official we'll simply call Mr. Washington. Joan Wire is the stalwart wife of Mike Wire. Mike is the storied "man on the bridge," the single most critical eyewitness in the saga of TWA Flight 800, the 747 that was inexplicably blown out of the sky on the night of July 17, 1996. The CIA built its notorious zoom-climb animation around Mike's position on...

The economy's growth has never before been so driven by real estate. Now that engine is sputtering. Jiany Massad isn't quite ready to throw in the towel on his fledgling career as a Miami real-estate tycoon. But if the local housing market continues to head south, the 30-year-old real-estate broker is already making alternate plans. "I might restart my old business," he says of a home decorating company that specialized in high-end window treatments. "At least it's real-estate-related." With home sales down by nearly a third in Florida last quarter, thousands of those who hoped to cash in on the...

(JHR) The Bible talks about a great apostasy that will occur in the last days before the anti-christ is revealed. In the second book of Thessalonians it states: "Don't be fooled by what they say. For the coming of the Lord will not occur until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed -- the one who brings destruction." (2 Thessalonians 2:3) One major Christian organization is now demonstrating that the great falling away, known in most Christian churches as the great apostasy, is well underway. Traditional Values Coalition (http://www.traditionalvalues.org/about.php) claims as its organizational...

Traditional Mass Propers For The Feast Day ofSaint Bernard of Clairvaux( Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost ) 20 August 2006 A.D. Missa Deus In Loco Santo Suo "....Ephpheta, that is, Be thou opened...." "Nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Mass forever, and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words; it is a great action. The greatest action that can be on earth. It is. . .the vocation of the Eternal." -- John Henry Cardinal Newman

Iran bans Da Vinci Code TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Iran has banned the best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code" after protests from the country's Christian clergy, the culture ministry said on Wednesday, but the Persian translation is already in its eighth edition. Iranian publishing thresholds have relaxed considerably in recent years and Tehran booksellers have noted an increased appetite for new age and spiritual titles. "Based on the request of three Christian clerics, yesterday we decided to ban its republication," said an official at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance who declined to be named. Most of Iran's Christians...

TEHRAN, July 25 (Mehr News Agency) -- The Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) has called for a ban on the book and film "The Da Vinci Code" in Iran. The decision was made on July 19 during the 48th meeting of the Council for Policy Making on Religions (CPMR), in which the members wrote a letter to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance calling for a ban on the book and the film. CPMR members expressed their disgust at the religious insult contained in the book and film, saying they deemed it offensive to Christianity. Some Internet sources...

The Da Vinci Code's gnosticism is not something that disappeared centuries ago. It survives as the religious substance of today's liberalism and its kindred sects of socialism. Gnosticism is the belief that intellectual elites have secret knowledge about the structure of human society and about the relationship between humans and the cosmos. These elites are thereby empowered to direct human affairs. Gnosticism has surfaced repeatedly over the ages, in modern times in the philosophical underpinnings of the 1789 French Revolution. The Da Vinci Code's depiction of gnosticism as the preserver of the "truth" about Jesus and Christianity falls into the...

Dan Brown’s bestseller fiction novel, The Da Vinci Code, suggests Mary Magdalene was Jesus’ wife, the mother of Jesus’ offspring, the real Holy Grail and the person meant to lead the church. The book conjectures that just about everything taught about Christ today is a lie, and the truth has been secretly kept from the world because the Bible Gospels promoting the deity of Christ were written in antiquity to hide and cover up the truth. The story casts sinister and wicked shadows on the Roman Catholic Church by implying it murdered to keep the secret about Jesus concealed. Ron...

HYDERABAD: The screening of controversial Hollywood movie "The Da Vinci Code" was suspended at a theatre here after a group of Christians, protesting against the release of the film, ransacked the theatre. The movie was to be released at Prasad Imax following a direction by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, quashing the state government's order to ban its screening. However, dozens of activists under the banner of the Christian United Front raided the theatre and damaged the property extensively forcing the management to suspend the film's screening. The protesters, who were carrying banners and placards describing the film as "Devil's...

In The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown tarnishes Judaism with the same stroke that he dismisses Christianity and Islam for their repression of women and of the Sacred Feminine. "The propaganda and bloodshed [of the church] had worked. Today's world was living proof. Women, once celebrated as an essential half of spiritual enlightenment, had been banished from the temples of the world. There were no female Orthodox rabbis, Catholic priests, nor Islamic clerics. The once hallowed act of Hieros Gamos -- the natural sexual union between man and woman through which each became spiritually whole -- had been recast as...

One reason for The Da Vinci Code’s success it that the Catholic Church has made itself a vulnerable target over the last few years, according to Patrick Madrid. Mr. Madrid, who will speak in Toledo on Wednesday night, is an apologist whose role is to defend and explain Catholicism. He said in an interview this week that the church is still reeling from the “two black eyes” it suffered starting in 2002. “First there was the priest scandal, and then the inept handling by bishops. I think the Catholic Church has gotten itself into such a mess, such a public...

Interview With Monsignor Raffaello Martinelli ROME, JUNE 9, 2006 (Zenit.org).- New methods are needed to catechize believers in the truths of the Eucharist, says Monsignor Raffaello Martinelli. The monsignor, an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and member of the editorial commission of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is author of "L'Eucaristia, dono incomparabile di Dio agli uomini" (The Eucharist, Incomparable Gift of God to People), published by Ediciones San Clemente. In this interview with ZENIT, Monsignor Martinelli explains how he has worked to meet an increasing need for catechesis. Q: What...

A FRIEND was relating how after her daughter had read the Da Vinci Code, she had wanted to read the Bible. Which is not in itself a bad thing except that she was concerned that an impressionable young mind would not be able to differentiate fact from fiction. Also it seemed that perhaps what was needed is a Da Vinci Code-type book for Muslims to spark off the same level of interest in young people in their own religion. Except that if anyone tried to write a similar thriller based around Islam, they’d be hounded and pilloried and threatened with...

Behind the success of The Da Vinci Code is: * A simple story designed to make stupid people feel smart. * Karl Rove and an insidious attempt to recruit members for Opus Dei.