Da Vinci Code Deconstructed

With hundreds of cable channels, why do we have to watch cable TV
programs that feature endless coverage of Natalee Holloway? The answer is, we
don’t. What’s more, there is a good channel out there associated with the New
York Times.

Are you tired of the New York Times on paper? Perhaps you ought to try
watching the Times on TV. Indeed, in conjunction with the Discovery Channel, the
New York Times offers a documentary channel called Discovery Times. This channel
has no coverage of missing person cases but it has recently been offering an
excellent two-hour program completely debunking the popular Dan Brown book The Da Vinci Code, which claims that the
Christian Church has conspired to suppress the real truth about Jesus. It is
going to become a major motion picture from Sony, directed by Ron Howard and
featuring Tom Hanks.

Browns book, which is fiction but
claims to be based on fact, insists that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, had a
child, and that a secret society called the Priory of Sion has possessed this
shocking truth. Members of the group reportedly included Leonardo Da Vinci, who
is said to have portrayed the truth about Jesus in esoteric ways in his famous
painting of The Last Supper.

The Real Da Vinci Code
was originally broadcast in Britainand was shown in Canada before arriving on the Discovery Times
Channel here in the U.S.

Curiously, the program is presented by Tony Robinson, a British
television comedy actor who in this program travels around the world attempting
to discover a factual basis for the any of the claims in the Brown book. His car
features a bobble head Jesus on the dashboard.

A colorful character, Robinson nevertheless does serious research in his
travels. One of the interesting parts of the documentary involves an inquiry
into the Priory of Sion, the organization that is supposed to possess the truth
about Jesus that the church doesn’t want you to know.

In his book,
Brown describes it as a European secret society and a real organization. But
the documentary makes a strong case that the group is a complete fraud and hoax cooked up
by a few Frenchmen.

Brown’s website features glowing
reviews of the book, such as “unputdownable,” from the Washington Post, and “His
research is impeccable,” from the New York Daily News. A page on his website
features his numerous media appearances and favorable reviews from many
different publications, including the New York Times.

But the documentary carried by the
Discovery Times channel is not kind to Brown, who refused to be interviewed
because he is said to be at work on his next novel. Indeed, Brown’s website
declares that he “will be unavailable
for interviews or appearances until the release of his next novel. No release
date is yet scheduled.”

The
release date for the film has already been set for May 19, 2006. The fear is
that the film may be as flawed as the book. The Times itself recently reported
that those working on the film “have consulted with Catholic and
other Christian specialists on how they might alter the plot of the novel to
avoid offending the devout.” One of those specialists is Amy Welborn, who
published a refutation of Brown’s book called “De-Coding Da Vinci.” You can go to her
website at www.amywelborn.com

Cliff Kincaid is the editor of The AIM Report, published by Accuracy in Academia’s parent group, Accuracy in Media.

Cliff Kincaid