While this is rare for me, I actually find myself in tentative agreement with the Vatican this time around -- I share the cardinal's concern that too many people take fiction like this (that is, fiction is close enough to facts that it can be hard to distinguish for someone without much background in the subject) as fact. The simple fact that there is such an uproar over the Da Vinci Code is all the proof you need -- if people were just saying that it was a fun read that threw out some interesting if implausible ideas, this never would've persisted on the national radar. As it is, enough people seem to think that because Mr. Brown clumsily connects some isolated data points and paints it as a conspiracy, there must indeed be such a conspiracy and that the Catholic Church has been suppressing the Truth for centuries.

I've been thinking a lot about popular ignorance lately and how tragic it is -- it is to a great extent what fuels the Islamist extremism in the Middle East and Christian fundamentalism here at home. There does seem to be an alarming trend that favors sensationalism and charismatic persuasion over scholarship and intellectual rigor (look no further than the inane debates we still have as a society over creationism as science).

Like the cardinal, I have no problem with fiction as fiction, but I do have a big problem when fiction is confused with fact.
 

Excellent point! There's a disclaimer at the front of the book that deliberately induces this confusion between fact and fiction that is completely irresponsible.

But do you know anyone who accepted what the Vatican (or any denomination) preaches and changed their mind based on this book? The conspiracy theorists found what they wanted to, but I don't see anyone being "converted" by it.
 

Put yourself in the Vatican's shoes, though: enough people believe what the book says about the Catholic Church in particular that the Vatican pretty much has to respond. I think the cardinal's angle on this is by far the best, since he points out the fact that very little of Brown's claims are substantiated by any serious work. It articulates the Vatican's position and in the process calls a spade a spade. The people who believe in the book to begin with aren't the types to be swayed by real scholarship, but it does keep the Vatican on the intellectual high ground.
 

Personally it only took one evening of perusing Dan Brown's own website to see the mish mash and confusion he has in his own beliefs.

It is what it was and it is fiction. I have enjoyed his writings when I needed something to catch my attention and hold it for 300 pages. If I want a discussion on Religion I will continue to read NT Wright or Brian McLaren, etc.

All this to say a good friend just published a book called "The Gospel According to the Da Vinci Code" by Kenneth Boa and John Alan Turner. I am skeptical at any response but the movie has seemed too brought up conversations about spiritual things as per my "Theology Pub" meeting last week.

And I don't read Romance novels. That comment pissed me off.