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Da Vinci Code
I feel that with the release of the book and movie, I couldn't ignore the fact of it. Here are some articles on the topic. 'Da Vinci Code' generation?Dan Brown and "The Voltaire Code" HOW CATHOLICS CAN COMBAT THE DA VINCI CODE
...It has been learned that a Muslim provided most of the funding for the making of The Da Vinci Code, which opens in U.S. theaters today (May 19). That revelation has added to the anger of some religious leaders who have criticized the movie for its anti-Christian content. Rob Schenck of the National Clergy Council was surprised when he was informed that a Muslim's financial support made the film possible. "It is enormously disappointing to know that a Muslim is behind the funding of this film," says Schenck. According to the Christian activist, this demonstrates the double-standard by which Islam operates. "Islamic leaders would never tolerate in any form a Christian attack on Islam," he says, "and yet here we have a report now of Muslim financial backing for what is nothing more than a scurrilous attack on the faith of Christians." Schenck says studio producing the movie owes American an explanation. "Sony Pictures owes it to the public to come forward with that information and [explain] why they would accept a Muslim attack against Christianity when I am sure they would never do it the other way around," he says. According to Internet Movie Database, the two-and-a-half-hour movie cost an estimated $125 million to make. [Bill Fancher] ...A conservative media watchdog organization says the mainstream media have been using yet another double-standard in their coverage of a new film that defames Christianity. Michael Chapman of the Media Research Center (MRC) says while the mainstream press have been virtually frothing at the mouth in anticipation of today's release of The Da Vinci Code -- director Ron Howard's new movie based on the eponymous novel by Dan Brown -- hardly anyone in the media has been asking Howard or any of the other people behind the film any hard questions, as many reporters did leading up to the release of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. But the MRC spokesman believes it is no secret why the media is giving The Da Vinci Code a pass. It is doubtful the media would tolerate a film that defames Islam, Chapman asserts, but apparently trashing Jesus Christ is okay. [Chad Groening]
***** HOW CATHOLICS CAN COMBAT THE DA VINCI CODEBy Rev. Ted Pike The Da Vinci Code is an unprecedented attack on the New Testament record that Jesus was divine and unmarried. It also savages the Roman Catholic Church, publicly holding it up to hatred and contempt. It portrays Catholic leadership throughout the centuries as suppressing vital truth. It suggests such leaders, up to the present, are capable of murderous actions against those who oppose them. Author Dan Brown portrays Catholics as sympathetically as Hollywood portrays Nazis. His Catholic police captain is a sexist maniac, and Opus Dei Catholics are represented by a murderous albino Frankenstein whose masochistic prayers sound more like schizophrenia than devotion. Brown often pauses his plot to lecture on the "violent and deceitful history" of the Church at large, including the outrageous charge that the Church killed five million women as witches. In the movie Brown gives the impression that Catholic hierarchy can command hidden laity in academia, government, and the police. Such is an organization fully as extensive and dangerous to those who oppose it as the Mafia. In America, the Code is free to blacken the names of Christ and Catholicism. Brown's attack is not a "hate crime" under any federal or state definition of the term. But under hate crime bureaucracies in Canada, Europe, and Australia, free speech is not protected. Instead, anyone who incites contempt for an identifiable group is guilty of a speech crime. Do the rabid attacks of The Da Vinci Code constitute hate speech against Catholics? Can Catholics in these countries file charges against distributors of The Da Vinci Code as "hate criminals?" If Brown's target were Jews instead of Catholics, there would be no question that his book would be considered speech crime. If in Canada or Sweden today a book or movie claimed evil leaders of Judaism through the centuries have conspired to control others through a religious myth and murdered those who oppose them, this would unquestionably be considered a hate crime. In fact, if a pastor in Holland or Germany just publicly states the historical facts that Jewish leaders masterminded Christ's crucifixion and persecuted His followers even to death, it is considered the crime of "anti-Semitism." Such a hate crime in Canada is punishable by up to $10,000 and five years in prison. If someone questions the accuracy of the six-million figure of Holocaust dead, then any Jew may claim anguish and press hate crimes charges. A Jew can also file charges if he hears any public speech critical of Jewish leaders for masterminding the crucifixion, or criticism of the Jewish religion. Since ADL’s hate crimes law was enacted in Canada in 1971, many Jews, homosexuals, and even some Muslims have received favorable judgments after charging that they felt intimidated or held up for contempt. Yet though there have been many white or Christian victims of hate crimes, I know of none who has ever been upheld in court as a victim of a hate crime. The general rule of enforcement under ADL hate laws is that only the alleged historic victims of Western male oppression - homosexuals, Jews, racial minorities, women - deserve shelter from "verbal violence." Christians are left out in the cold, pilloried in media and unprotected from hate. PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT FOR JUDAISM Why are Jews and homosexuals protected from the slightest criticism while Christians are exposed to blistering and lie-riddled attacks? For the past 40 years, the Anti-Defamation League and its parent organization, B'nai B'rith International, have been persuading governments worldwide to enact so-called anti-hate laws. B'nai B'rith is an international Jewish religious, educational, fraternal, and charitable organization with 2100 lodges and chapters in more than 50 nations. B'nai B'rith claims a half million Jewish members, constituting "organized world Jewry." Such Jews tend to be progressive leftists who favor gay rights, abortion, and militant anti-Christianity. Many more moderate, well-intentioned Jews vehemently oppose ADL/B'nai B'rith's anti-Christian activism, which seeks extreme restraints upon the symbols and public expression of Christian values.
In order to persuade governments to enact thought crimes legislation, ADL/B'nai B'rith reluctantly conceded that not just Jews but members of other religions be granted equal protection. Of course, ADL, being in control of such bureaucracies, never intended that Christian victims of hate crimes receive justice. But despite the intent of its framers, hate laws technically offer protection to Christians as well as Jews. If Christians are publicly held up for "hatred and contempt," they have the same right as a homosexual or Jew to go to the local police and file charges as victims of religious intimidation. This simple fact presents a tremendous opportunity for Catholics to resist the evil laws that silence them, by using those laws in a way their framers never intended. MILLIONS OF DA VINCI CODE VICTIMSEvery Catholic living under hate laws who feels held in contempt, intimidated, or emotionally distressed by The Da Vinci Code is a potential litigant against those who distribute it in their country. Tens of millions of Catholics in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and most European countries are entitled to file charges and lawsuits against publishers, movie theaters, distributors, and promoters of The Da Vinci Code in their nation. It is not even necessary under most hate law justice systems to prove The Da Vinci Code contains lies. Truth is not admitted in most hate crimes courts. The only criterion for a hate crime is whether the defendant feels emotionally bruised or intimidated . Financial compensation for victims of "hate speech" ranges from modest to enormous. In 2001 two homosexuals were awarded $2000 each for "emotional anguish" they experienced after reading several Bible verses critical of homosexuality in the newspaper. Last year ADL had to fork over $14.5 million to a man they smeared as "anti-Semitic." If the police or the courts refuse to honor your suit, charges of obstruction of justice may be filed against them. All freedom-loving attorneys, religious or not, should offer their services to pursue equal enforcement of hate laws. Perhaps if anti-Christians are silenced by hate laws, they'll join Christians in demanding a return of freedom of speech. DEMAND EQUAL TREATMENT UNDER THE LAW Because free speech is still protected in the U.S., even under ADL state hate laws, Catholics here cannot take legal action against The Da Vinci Code or other anti-Catholic productions. Similarly, since Sony Corporation and Random House and its subsidiaries, publishers of the movie and publishers of the book, exist outside hate crimes jurisdictions, it is much more difficult to restrain them. But under massive Catholic pressure, hate law governments might be compelled to ban the importation or distribution of The Da Vinci Code or any upcoming anti-Christian productions. The government of Canada certainly has no trouble banning shipments of videos or literature to Canada which criticize Israel or homosexuality. I speak from experience, having lost many shipments of books and videos to Canada's ever-watchful customs police. POSSIBLE OBJECTION Some may object: "Isn't it wrong to benefit from bad laws? Hate laws should be repealed, not used by Christians!" Unfortunately, with over 55 hate law bureaucracies either in place or under construction by ADL/B'nai B'rith worldwide, it is almost impossible to dismantle them. But impartial enforcement of hate laws would be a disaster for evil Jewish leaders; they would then be attacked by the very legal python they thought would only strangle Christians. If hate laws victimize Jewish activists as well as Christians, they will no longer be useful. ADL will have to devise some other way to persecute Christians. A TIME FOR CATHOLIC ACTION It's time for all Catholics living under hate laws to see The Da Vinci Code movie, peruse the book, and then file hate crimes charges with local police. It is your right to claim that you have been humiliated, held in contempt, and intimidated by those responsible for airing The Da Vinci Code in your country. This is a time to fight fire with fire. Freedom-loving Catholics as well as all lovers of freedom should email this alert to as many Catholic leaders and institutions as possible, including the Vatican. (Catholic directories are available at your library and on the internet.) The Pope must be urged to support this Catholic offensive. He must decry hate law bias against Christians. A barrage of Catholic activism could well result in legal precedents, protecting Christianity from future media attacks by Jewish activists. Such activism could cause hate laws to go without enforcement, restoring free speech to those who love Christ as well as those who hate Him. This freedom is our goal. STAND UP NOW If Catholics and Christians do not act now, the day will come soon when, as Christ predicted, "no man can work." Christian witness will be silenced, driven underground by persecution. Already the hour is very late. The time to act is now. God has provided us with an opportunity to legally resist those who are silencing the gospel of peace and we must seize this chance. Christians throughout history have died rather than renounce the Bible and their Savior. If we remain silent under hate laws, we will be guilty of a sin they refused to commit even under the edge of a sword. Every Catholic should view Rev. Ted Pike's gripping, 82-minute video documentary, "Hate Laws: Making Criminals of Christians." Catholic leaders should show it in churches and seminaries everywhere. This thoroughly documented expose, available in VHS or DVD for $24.90 postpaid, plus dozens of articles about the threat of hate laws to Christians are available at www.truthtellers.org. TALK SHOW HOSTS: For interview with Rev. Ted Pike on this timely, high-interest subject, call 503-631-3808. NATIONAL PRAYER NETWORK, P.O. Box 828, Clackamas, OR 97015 www.truthtellers.org ***** Posted: May 1, 2006 2006 WorldNetDaily.com Please note that some of this article is PG-13
by today's watered down standards, so those of you who still
hold to decency and civility may not want to read any further. Recently, the pastor of the church we used to
attend told the congregation "Go see the 'Da Vinci Code' and
read the book!" I asked if he meant for the entire congregation
to go see the "Da Vinci Code" and read the book, and he repeated
the command: "Yes, I said go see the movie and read the book!"
My wife and I walked out. Since time is running out for Christians to
heed the commands of many famous pastors and Christian leaders
to read the book before the movie opens in two weeks and then to
see the movie, perhaps reading selected passages would bring the
congregation up to speed. Better yet, perhaps these passages
should be performed as a skit in the church. Of course, to make
it authentic, the pastor as the grandmaster must "do it" in
plain view with a prostitute, not his wife. Here is a key passage from Dan Brown's "Da
Vinci Code" novel (page 311) illustrating the only glimpse men
and women will have of eternity is in the orgiastic few seconds
of the so-called sacred sex act:
The women and men were staggered, black,
white, black, white. The women's beautiful gossamer gowns
billowed as they raised in their right hands golden orbs and
called out in unison, "I was with you in the beginning, in the
dawn of all that is holy, I bore you from the womb before the
start of day."
The women lowered their orbs, and everyone
rocked back and forth as if in a trance. They were reverting
something in the center of the circle. What are they looking at? The voices accelerated now. Louder. Faster
"The woman whom you behold is love!" The
women called, raising their orbs again. The men responded, "She has her dwelling
place in eternity!" The chanting grew steady again.
Accelerating. Thundering now. Faster. The participants stepped
inward and knelt. In that instant, Sophie could finally see
what they were all watching. On a low, ornate altar in the center of the
circle lay a man. He was naked, positioned on his back, and
wearing a black mask. Sophie immediately recognized his body and
the birthmark on his shoulder. She almost cried out. Grand-pere!
This image alone would have shocked Sophie beyond belief, and
yet there was more. Straddling her grandfather was a naked
woman wearing a white mask, her luxuriant silver hair flowing
out behind it. Her body was plump, far from perfect, and she was
gyrating to the chanting – making love to Sophie's grandfather. Sophie wanted to turn and run, but she
couldn't. The stone walls of the grotto imprisoned her as the
chanting rose to a fever pitch. The circle of participants
seemed to be singing now, the noise rising in crescendo to a
frenzy. With a sudden roar, the entire room seemed to erupt in
climax.
If this is too long, how about acting out God
the Father doing it with the glory of the Holy Spirit? Or,
acting out Dan Brown's abhorrent contention that the Jewish
priests did it in the Holy of Holies? As Brown falsely proclaims
in Chapter 74: Langdon's Jewish students always looked
flabbergasted when he first told them that the early Jewish
tradition involved ritualistic sex. In the Temple, no less.
Early Jews believed that the Holy of Holies in Solomon's Temple
housed not only God but also His powerful female equal,
Shekinah. Men seeking spiritual wholeness came to the Temple to
visit priestesses – or hierodules – with whom they made love and
experienced the divine through physical union.
Are you disgusted yet? Well you should be. All
those calling for their followers to see and read the "Da Vinci
Code" are promoting this blasphemous tripe. The fallacy is that these willfully ignorant,
blind or nefarious leaders do not know that experiential
learning is a fallacy. You do not have to commit murder to know
that murder is wrong, or commit pedophilia to know that sex with
a minor is wrong. You can learn from secondary sources that tell
you not to murder, not to watch pornography, etc., especially
great sources like the Bible. Furthermore, we do not need to
murder, or to watch murder, to witness to murderers. The Bible gives us all we need to witness to
the lost and needy. The world needs the good news that God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that all who
believe in Him will be saved, not the bad news of the sexual
orgasm of the "Da Vinci Code." Order Ted Baehr's "MOVIE GUIDE®: The Family
Guide to Movies & Entertainment" at ShopNetDaily. MOVIEGUIDE® is dedicated to redeeming the
values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies
and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists
that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best
at the box office year in and year out.
Dr. Ted Baehr is the founder and publisher of MOVIEGUIDE®, chairman of the Christian Film &Television Commission, and a well-known movie critic, educator, lecturer and media pundit. He also is the author of several books, including "Faith In God And Generals." For more information, please call 800-899-6684.
Dan Brown and "The Voltaire Code" Posted: April 21, 2006 © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com "A secret Academy of which Voltaire was the president ... Fabrication of books of all kinds against Christianity ... books imputed as posthumous to deceased writers of reputation ..." – Yale President Timothy Dwight, July 4, 1798. Dan Brown's novel, "The DaVinci Code," with its assault on Christianity, fits the genre' of famed French cynic Voltaire (1694-1778). But was Voltaire part of a secret society to defame Christianity? Timothy Dwight, president of Yale from 1795 to 1817, thought so. Timothy Dwight has impressive credentials. The grandson of Princeton president Jonathan Edwards, he entered Yale at age 13, was a chaplain in the Continental Army and served in Massachusetts' first state Legislature before becoming the fourth president of Yale. During his 22-year term, he created the Departments of Chemistry, Geology, Medicine and Law. Dwight pioneered women's education, opposed slavery and encroachment on Indian lands. One of his students, Samuel Morse, invented the telegraph. Concerned with the growing enticement of France's deistic "cult of reason," which birthed the bloody French Revolution, Timothy Dwight gave an address in New Haven on July 4, 1798, titled "The Duty of Americans at the Present Crisis" (Encyclopedia Britannica's Annals of America, Volume 4) in which he uncovered some clues: "About the year 1728, Voltaire, so celebrated for his wit and brilliancy and not less distinguished for his hatred of Christianity and his abandonment of principle, formed a systematical design to destroy Christianity and to introduce in its stead a general diffusion of irreligion and atheism. For this purpose he associated with himself Frederick the II, king of Prussia, and Mess. D'Alembert and Diderot, the principal compilers of the Encyclopedie, all men of talents, atheists and in the like manner abandoned. "The principle parts of this system were: "1. The compilation of the Encyclopedie: in which with great art and insidiousness the doctrines of ... Christian theology were rendered absurd and ridiculous; and the mind of the reader was insensibly steeled against conviction and duty. "2. The overthrow of the religious orders in Catholic countries, a step essentially necessary to the destruction of the religion professed in those countries. "3. The establishment of a sect of philosophists to serve, it is presumed as a conclave, a rallying point, for all their followers. "4. The appropriation to themselves, and their disciples, of the places and honors of members of the French Academy, the most respectable literary society in France, and always considered as containing none but men of prime learning and talents. In this way they designed to hold out themselves and their friends as the only persons of great literary and intellectual distinction in that country, and to dictate all literary opinions to the nation. "5. The fabrication of books of all kinds against Christianity, especially such as excite doubt and generate contempt and derision. Of these they issued by themselves and their friends who early became numerous, an immense number; so printed as to be purchased for little or nothing, and so written as to catch the feelings, and steal upon the approbation, of every class of men. "6. The formation of a secret Academy, of which Voltaire was the standing president, and in which books were formed, altered, forged, imputed as posthumous to deceased writers of reputation, and sent abroad with the weight of their names. These were printed and circulated at the lowest price through all classes of men in an uninterrupted succession, and through every part of the kingdom."
After reading Dwight's address, it appears that there may be the workings of a new novel, "The Voltaire Code," in which Dan Brown could be a chief protagonist. We could mimic the detective sleuthing of "The DaVinci Code," where our search would also begin in Paris, at Voltaire's enormous sarcophagus, opposite Rousseau's. But, low and behold, his remains were stolen in 1814 and dumped in a garbage heap. Upon a little more inspection, we discover that his heart had been previously removed from his body and is in Paris' Bibliotheque Nationale. His brain, also removed, disappeared after an auction. As "The Voltaire Code" movie concludes, we hear the closing line of Timothy Dwight's address: "To destroy us therefore ... our enemies must first ... seduce us from the house of God." *****
'Da Vinci Code'
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