This month on Sunday evenings, my church has been showing <a href="http://www.willowcreek.com/product.asp?invtid=PR28636&action=details">Discussing the Da Vinci Code</a> by Garry Poole and Lee Strobel. And honestly, I felt silly trying to discuss something that I have neither read nor seen.

So I went to see the movie. As a movie, I'd say it was pretty good, very intelligent suspense sort of thing, except that it tried to fit way too much information into too little space. There were very long sections of exposition trying to explain the theories that I assume are in the novel and the average movie goer (including me) gets lost.

But on the whole I was fine with it, and I could see how many people would be swept up by the story and the 'facts' presented in the movie. Until I reached the end. When they finally kill or arrest all the bad guys and figure out who the holy grail is, Tom Hanks goes into this speech: "Was Jesus human? Was he divine? Is humanity divine? I guess it all depends on what you believe."

So we sat through two hours of complicated secrecy and violent cover-ups for 'it all depends on what you beleive'? I could understand if people were being carried away by a very convincing and obviously historically founded theory that attacks mostly a church that many see as corrupt and hypocritical. But throwing people another mystical, hard to prove theory that's just as relativistic as anything else out there right now? Oy.

So that's my reaction. Oy. Confuse me and then tell me all it doesn't matter anyway. Anyone who's faith was shaken by The Da Vinci Code did not have much of a faith to begin with.

Just OY. Wow. I figured it'd rate at least an OY VEY.

Well, it's good to hear that it didn't turn you into an atheist. What I'd like to know is why Hollywood has overlooked many of the real scandals within the church to make this bit of fluff. If they wanted launch a scathing attack on the Catholic church that's based in historical reality, they could start with the papacy.

-Stephen