Master of Deception

The film adaptation of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is scheduled for a May 19 worldwide release; two Catholic authors critique the Church's critic
by John Mallon

FOR CENTURIES whisperings of weird stories, intrigues, legends and secret societies have circulated about the Catholic Church in attempts to put her in a bad light with stories of villainous ecclesiastics doing dirty deeds to protect some unknown interest.

In his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis speaks of interest in the occult leading to a kind of 'spiritual lust'. Lewis's notion can easily be extended to include an unhealthy obsession with conspiracy theories, intrigues and scandal. Additionally there is, in our time, a great hunger for 'spirituality' without religion, which makes no moral demands on its adherents. The novel, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, capitalizes on these elements. ...