Religion Vatikan will ban Dan Brown's Da-Vinci-Code

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iwao

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two years after Dan Brown's bestseller was published, the Vatikan warns reading the book and thinks about banning the book from the bookstores!
one more evidence that the pope and his german "inquisitor" Ratzinger would like to move back to the middle age than make a step in the 21st century
I am looking foreward to seeing the movie!
in my opinion religion (christian, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism etc.) could be a very important part in our live, but it should respect everyone's work and life
 
Given the Popes current health, I doubted if he had much say on the matter. I have a feeling that the John paul is one of the more tolerants Popes there has been. I know he is very well read and holds several degrees in theology, and speaks about 5 or 6 languages. It sound that the more reactionary factions within the Catholic aren taking advantage of his ill health
 
The Guardian said:
Catholic ire triggers ban on novel

Reuters in Beirut
Friday September 17, 2004
The Guardian

Lebanon has banned Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code after Catholic leaders said it was offensive to Christianity.
Bookstores said on Thursday that security authorities had told them to take French, English and Arabic copies off the shelves.

The publishers have been banned from distributing more copies.

"It was one of our most popular books," said Roger Haddad, assistant manager at Virgin Megastore's bookshop in Beirut. "This is censorship. This book is fiction, not political or propaganda or history."

In The Da Vinci Code, an academic uncovers riddles hidden in the religious works of the famous painter.

For Lebanon's Catholic information centre, whose criticism apparently led to the ban, it struck too deeply against Christianity.

The centre's president, Father Abdou Abu Kasm, said: "There are paragraphs that touch the very roots of the Christian religion ... They say Jesus Christ had a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene, that they had children.

"Those things are difficult for us to accept, even if it's supposed to be fiction."

A security source said: "We have to work for public interest, banning anything that could worsen sectarian prejudices or offend religions."
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Two factors that must be considered regarding historical-religious fiction are whether the book makes it clear to the reader of the fictitious nature and its provocative aspect regarding religious beliefs. As long as these are made clear, there should be no problem with people reading it. Unlike Forest Gump, which is clearly fictitious, the book itself does not make these two facts obvious to the reader. I have had at least 2 people ask me whthere Forest Gump was a true story. I've also had people ask me whether I approved of the Da Vinci Code as a serious work of history. Not having read the book, but having read reviews of it I say, "Well, I'm too busy for reading fiction; having barely enough time for non-fiction." I guess that tells something about the shady identification that goes to promote publicity and the curiosity of people which leads to higher sales figures. It's like a pack of cigarette bearing the warning notice, "Smoking may be hazardous to your health." The Da Vinci code should also bear a warining; "Reading this may be detrimental to your historical understanding and your religious beliefs." That provided, why should the Vatican or the Lebanese gov't ban the book to begin with ? The public has a right to be protected from inaccurate historical material. Since commercialism failed in upholding the self-regulatory principle, it's hardly surprising that somebody had to step in. Pure and simple.
 
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@lexiko
you're right

anyway there must be a new attempt of the Vatican, because it was announced this morning in the German radio news - maybe they just want to ban the movie?

@Mycernius
unfortunately the current pope isn't that tolerant you may assume
although his health isn't very good (referring to his latest surgery and Parkinson's disease), his brain still works very well

I won't attack religious institutions but e.g. the founder of Opus Dei - a very conservative catholic group - was beatified and canonized in the shortest time ever (this example I took because everybody knows about that group since Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code was published) - a more tolerant and progressive pope would have prooved those proceedings a little bit longer.

example 2: pope John Paul still bans women from being priests
example 3: catholic priests will be excommuicated if they celebrate the "holy service" togeher with protestants (non-catholics): one actual case in Germany
 
iwao said:
anyway there must be a new attempt of the Vatican, because it was announced this morning in the German radio news - maybe they just want to ban the movie?
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It's not that I am totally agianst the Da VInci Code, or that I approve of banning books. I actually think that the book got my sister interested in medieval history and religious notions. It was just that the public's unawareness of the fictitious nature didn't seem to have gotten across. I personally enjoy certain historico-religious fiction; one of my favorites being The Last Temptation. That was under heavy fire by mainstream US protestants and Catholics alike. I was shocked that the religious minds were so closed to seek and explore areas of spirituality. Dogmatic or reactionary was my impression. But then, it was clearly fiction and nobody seemed to be misguided about the fact.
iowao said:
example 2: pope John Paul still bans women from being priests.
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Your complaint is legitimate, Iwao. Why not female priests ?
iwao said:
example 3: catholic priests will be excommuicated if they celebrate the "holy service" togeher with protestants (non-catholics): one actual case in Germany
Click to expand...
Vatican is in the wrong for abusing authority. Why would they do that ? I know the answer; it's all about initiative. They just couldn't live with a humble practicing preist start anything inspirated on his own. Partisan activity and factional disputes shall be judged in the hearvenly court itself, IMHO.
 
Female priests is a rather touchy subject for the Vatican. Not great believers in equal rights. There are some Catholic groups that do allow female priest. The Vatican doesn't recognise them though, all to do with religious law and readings from the Bible. Caused some controversy in the Anglican church when they allowed female vicars. Some Anglican leaders are still not happy about it. It strikes me that various religions can get a little blinkered when faced with the idea of equal rights within the church, synagoge, mosque etc.
Thanks for your insights on the Pope iwao san.
 
Possibly a little insensitive in light of his death, so I apologize, but there are also the somewhat old fashioned opinions regarding contraception and abortion to consider when discussing the tolerance of John Paul the Second's (RIP) papacy.
 
the discussion is affecting christs, christian book dealers, christian book manufacturers.

it would violate the right for religious freedom to ban a book out of religious reason.

i do not know if the da-vinci-code book is worth the paper, probably it is freely made up.

hehe, i am bandwagoning. a little bit to say: because i am not a christ.

nothing to say but participating=fanboy.

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today i have found this. there seems to be a movie starring tom hanks to be released shortly.

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/The-DaVinci-Code/
 
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