I agree that Dan Brown’s page-turner of a book is a work of fiction, but he makes a very disturbing declaration on the very first page, that there are certain facts of history (like Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion), and that “all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” Is that not disturbing to those who know the truth not only of Christianity but of ancient history?

I suppose it’s semantics, the documents are accurate in the novel but just not in real life. Since the Priory of Sion is proven to be related to fraudulent documents planted in the French National Library in 1956 by an anti-Semitic con man named Pierre Plantard, the whole premise of the book crumbles in the hands of any reasonable reader searching for a conspiracy theory. Current Da Vinci Code hype would be a non-issue if the author would admit that he wrote a fascinating work of fiction rather than fact, but he does not. He insists that it is all true. If only 5 percent of 45 million American readers changed their beliefs, that’s over 2 million people who have the potential to lead the next generation down a path of spiritual confusion. We’re “educated” here in America and this material should not shake our faith, after all the church has been attacked for 2,000 years, but how will this book and movie affect the presentation of the authentic gospel by missionaries around the world? The world’s 2 billion Muslims can now say with confidence that what they have believed about Jesus all this time is true because they have a “fact” filled Da Vinci Code story.

This summer people are talking about Jesus, so let’s engage an open community in an honest discussion about the real Jesus.

Scott Chafee, Chatham