DVC as harmless enjoyment
Curious about the Spectator article, I look up and find this article in Independent Catholic News about the The Da Vinci Code Response Group. To give you a flavour:
We believe the Da Vinci Code is fun and harmless in so far as it is treated as fiction. We do not believe in condemnations, boycotts or protests. Prickliness on the part of Christians leads us into the trap laid by Dan Brown: that the Church is on the defensive because it is engaged in a cover-up.The statement concludes:
Our first message to people planning to see the film is: enjoy yourselves, but do not believe anything in it. The Da Vinci Code is fiction trading as fact.To be fair, the statement makes some good points about the principal errors of the DVC. But I really hope that no teenager goes to see the film because a Catholic group told them (or reassured their parents) that it was harmless fun.
Our second message is: the story of the real Jesus is much more compelling than the gospel according to Dan Brown. Enjoy yourselves; then discover for yourselves the real thing.