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I have always imagined that Paradise would be a kind of library.
Jorge Luis Borges

So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?
Saint John, Letter to Galatians 4:16

Freedom of Religion - Freedom from Religion - Freedom of Public Display of Religion and Traditions

We establish no religion in this country, nor will we ever. We command no worship. We mandate no belief. But we poison our society when we remove its theological underpinnings. We court corruption when we leave it bereft of belief. All are free to believe or not believe; all are free to practice a faith or not. But those who believe must be free to speak of and act on their belief.
--
Ronald Reagan (Temple Hillel Speech, 1984)

Friday, May 26, 2006

DaVinci Code is a Novel

Dan Brown’s best-selling novel (key word here is novel) is quite the subject and the film based upon the book will be coming to a theater near you this summer.
Roman Catholic Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Archbishop of Genoa, has called the novel and upcoming film “shameful and unfounded.” Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, the Archbishop of Manila, stated that it was “blasphemous.” The Greek Orthodox Church says that “from a religious and historical point of view the film is wholly false.”
What are they talking about - The DaVinci Code, of course. It is a novel of fiction that is a murder mystery in which the Holy Grail is the gist of the story. Two people, Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu are out to solve the mystery and learn that the Bible was not divinely inspired by god but rather politically inspired by Roman Emperor Constantine. They also learn that Jesus’ divinity was “a late-developed doctrine foisted on Christians by the Council of Nicaea.” Instead of being divine, Jesus was a human prophet who married Mary Magdalene and had children by her. The Holy Grail is actually Mary Magdalene’s ancestry (“blood line”).