Soap Box Derby, Round 1

People are really beginning to piss me off.

I read The DaVinci Code, and found it to be a very cool book. It is, however – and everyone who slams the book and the movie simply because it presents a “what-if” scenario should remember this – a work of fiction, and that it is not uncommon for novelists to put fictional characters and events into real places and settings. It's called poetic license; and if it wasn't for poetic license, all fiction would be sci-fi. And I couldn't stomach that.

The DaVinci Code is fiction, people. Not a scripture. It's a novel.

It’s completely ridiculous to suggest that a book is “evil” or “harmful”, or that it should be banned because it disagrees with someone’s religious beliefs. I would like to personally introduce these people to a little something we call the First Amendment. It gives novelists like Dan Brown the right to pen a work of fiction, just as Bible-thumpers have the right to push their beliefs in everyone’s faces every single day. I would also like to remind them that this country was founded on freedom of religion. If you’re a Christian, more power to you and your convictions. Just don’t tell me that my beliefs are wrong, and don’t even try to make someone feel bad for reading a book or seeing a movie that you feel “threatens” your faith.

I was born into a Christian family. My father is Baptist, and my mother belonged to the Evangelical Covenant church. So the idea of Jesus Christ being the Messiah was very much on the front burner in our home, as far as faith goes.

I have, in recent years, experienced a crisis of faith, and have begun to question my beliefs; and I have, as a result, made the difficult decision to step away from Christianity and toward Judaism. That is not to say that I disrespect anyone’s religious convictions. My family is still Christian, as is the woman I love; and I have the deepest respect for their beliefs.

So why do some people choose to blur the line between passion and piety? Has God somehow granted these people a special right to tout their beliefs as the only true way of life, to deny others the right to offer different ideas even when packaged as fiction?

My older sister, who is committed to Christ as her savior, has read the book as well, and is excited to see the film. The big difference between my sister and Christians who hate or fear the story is that she is intelligent enough to accept that A) it is a work of fiction; B) everyone’s relationship with God and/or Christ is a very personal one; and C) Jesus was a man first.

Why would it be so difficult to believe that Jesus would not have taken a wife and had chilrden, as the Holy Father has instructed? It’s dangerous to limit yourself to a single idea, and the Catholic Church has been guilty of that for centuries. Galileo was censured for adopting Copernicus’ theory that the sun, and not the Earth, was the center of the universe. It was not until he recanted his belief in the Copernican universe before Pope Urban VIII that he was allowed to continue teaching.

Furthermore, why do people who criticize The DaVinci Code -- admittedly a work of fiction -- ignore the non-fiction work The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which suggests the same theme of Jesus Christ having married Mary Magdalene and fathering at least one child?

I think the answer is pretty simple: The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail did not perform well in the marketplace, while The DaVinci Code has been on the New York Times bestseller list for three solid years and has attracted more media attention than any other book in recent memory.

I've also noticed that many of the same people who have problems distinguishing faith and fiction also think that the National Enquirer is a newspaper.

But that’s just me… exercising my First Amendment right.