05-20-2006, 12:01 AM
Another from Pioneer, 19 May 2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It's neither about faith nor fact, but bigotry
Kanchan Gupta |
At his wickedly cynical best, Boris Johnson, in his article 'Dan Brown has resurrected a heresy that rattles the Church' published in The Daily Telegraph on Thursday, has ravaged those in the clergy and laity who have been campaigning for a ban on Ron Howard's cinematic rendition of The Da Vinci Code. Since tolerance levels are rather low out here, it would be impolitic to quote Johnson's scathing criticism.Â
But since statistics are indisputable and value neutral, let me fetch you an interesting detail provided by Johnson. "According to astonishing statistics from the Roman Catholic Church, 22 per cent of British adults have now read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown," he says, "and of those an amazing 60 per cent believe that, yeah, it is probably the case that Jesus indeed got married to Mary Magdalene and sired a line of descendants."
We don't have matching statistics for India. But it's a safe guess that thousands have read Dan Brown's bestseller - it was top-of-the-list for years in cities across the country - and are aware of the plot of the page-turner. It's anybody's guess as to how many of them are actually convinced that perhaps there's a germ of truth in what the author says with such great conviction.
Dan Brown has made tons of money from The Da Vinci Code, as have others who have written tomes to explain the mystery of the code and the amazing linkage between the mathematical logic of phi and the Fibonacci numbers and nature's creation around us. For nearly four years, it's been a successful industry spawned by the success of The Da Vinci Code.
The theologians' response has been predictable. After all, men and women of god are not expected to accord precedence to fact over faith. If that were to happen, faith would cease to exist. This, in a sense, has been the logic of the Vatican's reaction, first to the book and then the film - it has appealed to the faithful to abjure such literature and cinema that questions the very essence of Christianity.
It's happened before, too. Nikos Kazantzakis's The Last Temptation of Christ may have excited intelligentsia across the world, but was frowned upon by the Church. Martin Scorsese's eponymous film failed to cover costs at the box office.
On the other hand, Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ was a major grosser, largely because the Church endorsed the film and distributors timed its release with Lent. It was faith re-enacted on the big screen, never mind the appaling violence that was portrayed. For a good cause, all is fair.
There is, however, a common thread that binds The Passion of The Christ and the two films that question conventional faith: All three bestow Jesus of Nazareth with human qualities, making him more reachable than any abstract idea of god in heaven; they are about a Man who walked the rugged landscape of West Asia two millennia ago, preaching reform and tolerance, fully aware of the frailties from which humankind suffers.
Tragically, those who oppose The Da Vinci Code's screening believe in neither reform nor tolerance. Bigotry, for them, is the bedrock of their faith.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It's neither about faith nor fact, but bigotry
Kanchan Gupta |
At his wickedly cynical best, Boris Johnson, in his article 'Dan Brown has resurrected a heresy that rattles the Church' published in The Daily Telegraph on Thursday, has ravaged those in the clergy and laity who have been campaigning for a ban on Ron Howard's cinematic rendition of The Da Vinci Code. Since tolerance levels are rather low out here, it would be impolitic to quote Johnson's scathing criticism.Â
But since statistics are indisputable and value neutral, let me fetch you an interesting detail provided by Johnson. "According to astonishing statistics from the Roman Catholic Church, 22 per cent of British adults have now read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown," he says, "and of those an amazing 60 per cent believe that, yeah, it is probably the case that Jesus indeed got married to Mary Magdalene and sired a line of descendants."
We don't have matching statistics for India. But it's a safe guess that thousands have read Dan Brown's bestseller - it was top-of-the-list for years in cities across the country - and are aware of the plot of the page-turner. It's anybody's guess as to how many of them are actually convinced that perhaps there's a germ of truth in what the author says with such great conviction.
Dan Brown has made tons of money from The Da Vinci Code, as have others who have written tomes to explain the mystery of the code and the amazing linkage between the mathematical logic of phi and the Fibonacci numbers and nature's creation around us. For nearly four years, it's been a successful industry spawned by the success of The Da Vinci Code.
The theologians' response has been predictable. After all, men and women of god are not expected to accord precedence to fact over faith. If that were to happen, faith would cease to exist. This, in a sense, has been the logic of the Vatican's reaction, first to the book and then the film - it has appealed to the faithful to abjure such literature and cinema that questions the very essence of Christianity.
It's happened before, too. Nikos Kazantzakis's The Last Temptation of Christ may have excited intelligentsia across the world, but was frowned upon by the Church. Martin Scorsese's eponymous film failed to cover costs at the box office.
On the other hand, Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ was a major grosser, largely because the Church endorsed the film and distributors timed its release with Lent. It was faith re-enacted on the big screen, never mind the appaling violence that was portrayed. For a good cause, all is fair.
There is, however, a common thread that binds The Passion of The Christ and the two films that question conventional faith: All three bestow Jesus of Nazareth with human qualities, making him more reachable than any abstract idea of god in heaven; they are about a Man who walked the rugged landscape of West Asia two millennia ago, preaching reform and tolerance, fully aware of the frailties from which humankind suffers.
Tragically, those who oppose The Da Vinci Code's screening believe in neither reform nor tolerance. Bigotry, for them, is the bedrock of their faith.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->