The Forum: Gnostics' favorite scholar gets a free pass from critics by Phil Lawler special to CWNews.com May. 09 (CWNews.com) - Novelist Dan Brown has been rightly criticized for the many outlandish claims advanced as "historical background" for his sensational novel The Da Vinci Code. While Brown poses as a writer who researchs his subject carefully, his critics have exposed him as a novelist who builds his popular appeal on sloppy scholarship, conspiracy theory, and a hyperactive imagination. Still, the best-selling novelist can call upon a few scholars with impressive academic credentials to support the theories that underlie his book....