‘Da Vinci Code’ stirs great debate
The brouhaha over “The DaVinci Code” has officially reached fever pitch. There are more than 14 books and DVDs, an official White Paper and 4 million Web site listings refuting the blasphemous claims in this thriller novel — and it is just possible the best discussion you have concerning this work might be with your children.
It appears to be a discussion long overdue. The Bible Literacy Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit endeavor, explored the views of 41 of the nation’s best high school English teachers and the knowledge base of 1,002 teens. Ninety percent of the teachers believe that Bible literacy provides a distinct educational advantage, yet less than one-fourth of their students are Bible-literate.
Of teens surveyed, 28 percent could not identify Moses; 8 percent thought he was one of the Twelve Apostles; 7 percent thought he was a Pharaoh of Egypt. Close, but no golden calf.
Only one in 10 students could name the world’s five major religions, and no, self-esteem is not one of them. (They are Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.)
One teacher told of teaching “The Pearl,” by John Steinbeck. After reading a passage where a character said the Hail Mary over a baby, students began asking, “Why would they want to put hail on Mary?” “Who’s Mary, anyway?” Then someone thought perhaps Hail was Mary’s first name as in Hail Mary. Sure, meet the Marys: Hail, her sister Gayle, and their brother, Dale.
Kids aren’t the only ones with some blank pages in their books. When Jay Leno did a Jay Walking segment and asked Bible questions, participants answered that DeGeneres was a book of the Bible, Adam and Eve had no children, Moby Dick was swallowed by the whale and the item Jacob gave his son Joseph, making his brothers envious, was a new car.
With a lack of Bible literacy and voids of world history and church history, it is no small wonder that “The DaVinci Code” is creating a stir.
The novel asserts that: Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and fathered children, the Bible was doctored by church leaders in order to control the Roman Empire and oppress women, nobody believed Jesus was divine until it became politically expedient, and the Catholic Church has worked for centuries to keep all of this a deep, dark secret.
Where to start in the family discussion?
•Talk about what you believe and why you believe it.
•Read the creeds (found in most hymnals), discuss what they mean, and find out how they came to be.
•Discuss whether an author who writes thriller fiction is a reliable source for information on church history.
•Discuss whether Hollywood is a reliable source of information on church history — or of information on anything.
•Discuss a distinguishing characteristic of contemporary Christianity, which is that when mocked or blasphemed, followers are not likely to burn their neighbors’ cars, riot in Peoria and kill people in Des Moines.
•Talk about what makes a book fiction and what makes a book nonfiction. Better yet, go to amazon.com, call up “The DaVinci Code,” use the peek-inside feature and read the page preceding the prologue:
“All of the characters and events in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.”
You might also consider reading the primary source itself, the Bible. Wouldn’t it be something if “The Da Vinci Code” helped the Good Book to once again become a good read?