"And the truth is no one will ever know the truth."

A lady from Eugene, Oregon (where I live), sends along some not-so-positive remarks about this April 23rd article about me that appeared in the local paper, The Register Guard:

The Christian Hoax

Much has been made of “The DaVinci Code”; fiction, not fiction, lies, conjecture, posturing, disapproval from the Roman Catholic Church.    Carl Olson’s comments were far from my own reality.  (April 23, 2006)    “ …anti-Catholicism is the last accepted prejudice”?   Really?  What then is genocide?  How do you explain the failure of levees in New Orleans?  Or the placement of landfills and toxic waste dumps?  This is not “prejudice” against christians, Carl, this is well-deserved disgust and aversion, a product of sowing and reaping.   

There are hints of truth in the DaVinci Code.  Don’t let history sway your predisposition.  Look at the ‘christian agenda’ for what it truly is.

‘Holy Wars’’? A revealing oxymoron.  400 (four hundred) years of looting were the Crusades.   They set the foundation for the standard method of dealing with heathens and heretics.   The cost of Christianizing then Europe?  Eight million to ten million lives.  But it was worth it, as Madeleine Albright would say.

Members of the Cathars and the Knights Tempar were condemned by the ‘church’ as heretics and slaughtered, their lands, titles and holdings absorbed by church and by state.  First demonize, then condemn, then demand blood in the name of god.  Secure the booty.  Make full the holy coffers.  Don’t forget to justify the destruction.

The Holy Roman Catholic Church under Pope Innocent IV did adopt and authorize  (1252 ACE) torture for ecclesiastical trials.   Torture was honed by the Christian crusaders and the Inquisition.  Pagan common law opposed torture.  What a Christ-like action that was. 

For 500 (five hundred) years the Inquisition reigned hellbent, literally; a mockery to justice, fanatical, cruel, arbitrary and invented to force the public to embrace or be exterminated.  Noted as ’the most elaborate extortion racket ever devised’, an all-for-profit organization.   The first corporation? 

Pope Boniface directed the trial of a witch must be conducted ‘simply, without the voice and form of lawyers’.  The ‘church’ created the crime and acted judge and jury.  Inquisitors were placed entirely above the law.  Why does this sound so familiar? 

Condemn all who do not submit quietly.  Burn them at the stake.  Excommunicate them.  The list includes  Copernicus,  Galilei, Joan de’Arc, Giordano Bruno, Hypatia, Michael Servetus, Martin Luther, Matthew Fox, witches, herbalists, healers, midwives, pagans, heathens, savages, natives.

What about the usurping of pagan holy days, like Christmas and Easter?  And all of the adopted relics and traditions, like the yule log, gifts, lights, mistletoe, holly, eggs, rabbits, wreaths?  Altogether pagan in origin.  And if Christmas is about Christ, what are all those ‘Christians’ doing at the mall?

Jesus and Magdalene married?  Or not?  So what?   What if they shared a bed?  And had sexual intercourse?  And made a family?  What difference does it make?  And the truth is no one will ever know the truth. 

The wrap up at the end of your article/interview is priceless.  The perfect black-and-white, with-us –or-against-us, good-versus-evil, patriot-or-terrorist, love-it-or-leave-it divisive spew.  You say that if your Jesus Christ is not who you think he is/was “then Christianity is a complete sham….It’s really an all-or-nothing proposition”.   

When it comes to the ‘all-or-nothing’ ness of Christianity, I prefer the latter. Christianity unveiled is nothing less than unbridled corruption and insatiable greed, the evolution of hypocrisy.  The only consistency in Christianity is the hypocrisy.   

Your ‘god’ is not my ‘god’. 

Your Jesus is not my Jesus.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of ‘god’.

Beware the scribes.

Reap and sow accordingly.

Pax vobiscum,

S-------

Sounds like the start of a rewarding and logical dialogue...

Comments

[Cristina A. Montes]

"Carl Olson’s comments were far from my own reality. (April 23, 2006)"'

Well, at least she implicitly acknowledges the difference between her own reality and the real reality.

[Paul]

Carl, better take her advice and ignore her scribal tendencies - "Beware the scribes."

The good news, however, is that she obviously took your article to heart, otherwise you would have recieved a more watered down attack. Such as, "chill out you fundamentalist, its only fiction," or "you Catholics still use crusades to attack everything different from yourselves, take for instance the literary crusade against little innocent Dan Brown"...etc, etc.

[MLC]

Paul, you have the cack-handed prose and logic of the members of Carl's "fan" club down to a T.

Is it you who has been sending him all those emails?

[Mold of Man]

The truth is out there and once you know you won't need the bible the church or even care to see movies like The Da Vinci Code, There is no secret anymore.

Hallucinogenic mushrooms and religions. Burning bush?, talking to devils in the wilderness?, grand trumpets blowing in the sky? - yea those dudes were tripping for sure!!!

The DaVinci code and the Bible are both works of fiction and possibly both were plagiarized.

http://jamesarthur.net/mm.html

Many Many free chapters online.

[MLC]

"The DaVinci code and the Bible are both works of fiction...."

Sorry, Ian Mckellen has already beaten you to that observation.

[geneseejoe]

Carl, I'm curious. You must have recieved hundreds of letters and emails from defenders of "The Load;" what percentage of these would you consider to be at, or below, a functionally literate level?

[Cristina A. Montes]

I'm also curious, Carl. Which would you rather do: read all the hate mail you receive, or sit through watching the entire TDVC movie?

[El Perro Patron]

"hate mail?"

Well since it's criticism of a "hate book" designed only to cash in on another's success while fanning the flames of paranoia and victimhood, I guess "hate mail" is the only rational response.

Yes yes, I know. Art and entertainment are destroying the Catholic Church through no fault of it's own. It's horrible. Tragic. Someone pass me the Kleenex. I'm tearing up. Pews and collection plates just aren't filling up the way they used to. Its all Dan Brown's fault. It has absolutely nothing to do with an outdated, scientifically debunked worldview or decades of covering up for pedophile priests.

[MLC]

What I find hilarious, El Perro, is that you, and many like you, are going to waste good money on the dud that is the Duh Vinci Cod. All you will be doing is lining the pockets of that charlatan, Dan Brown, Ron Howard and Sony. If you must give money away, why not give it to someone who really needs it, not to sharks like Brown, who are laughing all the way to the bank.

[El Perro Patron]

Even funnier is that MLC "knows" the film is bad without seeing it because he has chosen to take the critic's word for it... this time. While I'd be willing to wager that he has ignored the scribblings of the critics in past times and actually enjoyed films that were panned.

Hypocrisy. Pure and simple

and, by the way, "Dud" usually refers to something that is a commercial flop. Its clear that despite the rantings of a handful of delusional paranoids on this and other boards, the film will be a huge success, making back its production costs on opening weekend.

"Da Vinci Code" breaks Italian box office records
05/20/2006

The movie adaptation of Dan Brown's bestseller earned 2 million euros ($2.6 million) on its opening night, nearly double the takings of Italy's previous top film, Oscar-winner Roberto Benigni's "Life is Beautiful".
"The Da Vinci Code" has broken box office records in Roman Catholic Italy as tens of thousands of Italians ignored Vatican calls to boycott the film. The movie adaptation of Dan Brown's bestseller earned 2 million euros ($2.6 million) on its opening night, nearly double the takings of Italy's previous top film, Oscar-winner Roberto Benigni's 1997 tragi-comic Holocaust drama "Life is Beautiful".

Italian news agencies reported record queues around the country to see the film of the novel that ignited Vatican ire by saying Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene and the Catholic Church hushed this up.

Millions worldwide are expected to flock to see the film on its opening weekend, shrugging off protests by Christian groups and tepid reviews at its Cannes film festival premier this week.

Many Christians across the world believe the theories in "The Da Vinci Code" are blasphemous, and the Vatican has led an offensive against the book and the film, calling for a boycott.

Members of ultra-Catholic group, Christian Militants, picketed some cinemas in central Rome, close to the Vatican, chanting "Dan Brown remember you will also be judged by Christ". Many Italians are fans, however, buying tens of thousands of the more than 40 million copies of the books sold worldwide.

Italy's tourist industry has also leapt on the Dan Brown boom. Special tours are running in Rome and to the church in Milan containing Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper", a painting central to "The Da Vinci Code" plot.

Florence, where the Renaissance master lived, is holding a series of exhibitions throughout the European summer focused on cracking the code of Da Vinci's paintings and designs.

[MLC]

El Perro:
You make two assumptions: firstly that I am a "he", when nothing in my handle indicates gender, and secondly that I am a movie goer. I never go to the movies as I prefer old films. So there is no hypocrisy involved.

How do I know the film is a dud? because there is no way you can make a decent film out of such an egregious novel.It is based on lies and calumny, so it really doesn't matter how many deluded souls go to watch it, that fact remains.

[El Perro Patron]

MLC
Thats hilarious. Thanks for the laugh. You don't go to see movies, but presume to tell us all what will or won't be a good movie.

On that note... I've never played rugby, but let me tell you how to do it correctly...

nice job!

[MLC]

El Perro, if you read what I actually wrote instead of twisting it in a self-serving way, I didn't say I don't watch movies, but that I prefer old films.

TDVC is an atrocious novel, badly written with paper thin characters; and worst of all it it is full of malicious lies about the most important thing in life: religion and our eternal destiny. It couldn't be anything else but a bad movie, and that's putting it mildly.

[MLC]

Although if someone makes a spoof version of TDVC, I'll make a point of going to watch it during it's opening weekend.

[David Titus]

MLC... you want a spoof version of TDVC?

www.albinocode.com

[Wayne Purcell]

The Da Vinci Code has been proved to be a fabrication.It cannot be dismissed however, that the Catholic church is responsible through-out history of the most heinous atrocities. Take for example Pizarro's murderous rout of the Incas. Priests absolved the conquistador's of the sins they were about to commit before they duly garroted and tortured the incas in search of hidden gold.

[MLC]

Wayne: sources and references please.

[JO]

Carl, I sure wish your dialogue with this lady is "logical", but what it does "sound like" to me is that, along with all the collection of not-so-true statements she took the trouble to "scribe" down, there is a quite a bit of hatred welling out from her, despite the nice and seemingly educated way in which she wrote it all.

Of course this means she is personally quite concerned about the whole issue. The original article she was commenting on was a quite simple commentary, up until the last paragraphs where the reader is reminded about the existence of "deep dislike or distrust of religious authority". I must tell you I also dislike the expression "the last accepted prejudice", because it's not really verifiable (although widespread in several authors, including figuring in the title of at least one book), and it doesn't really appear to mean much more, in the minds of those it talks about, than "you're such an anti-religious bigot with nothing to show for it - just ignorance and prejudice!". It doesn't call people to their senses and lengthy study, on the contrary this seems to be a good trigger to get people to spell out all the junk they "feel" the Church has done.

People have many ways to arrive at a reasonable ground for dialogue, and I'm not to say that what you said never works. After all, you were approached by another person with her own doubts, also she doesn't seem to see them much like that (is there room in your mind for doubt if you already feel "no one will ever know the truth"? and what kind of spiritual loneliness and despair does this mean in the life of this person?). But I pray this exchange is indeed rewarding for you, particularly in the grace of communion with the Most Blessed Trinity. :-)

Thanks for reading.

[Victor Schendel]

Everyone here talks a good game! When will we finally unite, as one voice, and tell the world what is known about the "evil's" of religious dogma. The religions of the world were formed in a time of tribalism and their books written by people unlike today's Talaban. Today, those "tribes" have nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Christians can use them on Jews and Muslims. Muslims can use them on Christians and Jews. If they have their way, they will lead us once again into our own "Dark Ages" and once there, destroy humanity. Everytime someone drops a coin into a offering plate they bring us closer to the brink. I am scared for our children and their children. We must put an end to religious superstitions, bigotry, hatred and closed mindedness that the Bible and Koran inspire. Please don't be silent!!!!!!!! Tell everyone you know of the threat and inspire them to act. If there were a devil ( of which I'm sure there is not) he would have invented religion as the ultimate way to destroy ourselves. Wake up World!!! Hopefully we can all make a difference

[jo jo the monkey]

Huh? What side of logic did any of you CodeFans wake up on? It is not a secret that the Catholic Church has had its share of outright HORRIBLE leaders, but it is NOT the ONLY version of Christianity in the world! In fact, Catholicism is more about the virgin Mary than it is about her holy offspring, the Christ who is the foundation of Christianity. The trouble with some folks is that you have put your faith into a religion, trusting that it will save your soul, when it is taught in the Bible that only Jesus can do that very thing. No religion, just faith in Christ. Dan Brown sounds to me like an angry little man for whom religion has been an unmitigated disaster; therefore he writes his anger into every line of TDVC, and deservedly so. However, to try to convince the general populace of Christ's total and utter humanity is shameful and demanding of some payback. Christianity is the only religion in the world that offers complete salvation through a simple act of faith in a single deity who died for everyone's sins (look up Perry Stone: he explains how the crucifixion was actually a very slick trick played on Satan who knows the Scripture and its prophecies word for word), who died of his own accord (he gave up the ghost) and was buried for three days before resurrecting all on his own as well. After that, he spent 30 more days here, then ascended into Heaven. The only religion that makes that claim. Also the only one which offers any real Hope for humanity. Christianity is also the only religion which is regularly attacked by all of the other religions in the world, including Judaism. It was the Roman Empire which proved this to be true, because they weren't throwning Zen Buddhists to the lions, only Christians, and the Roman Empire was as ecumenical as any government could get.
So Dan Brown's hate novel about Catholicism and its evils is not surprising, but it is distressing that he place mere humans who are in charge of the church in the same category reserved for deities simply to decry their actions as appointed demigods. Christ is our creator, and not prone to our mistakes. Were He here Himself, and his Kingdom come, we would all be made perfect in order to successfully operate in our jobs in His government. But while we are here on earth, we are imperfect and prone to vast errors (see Ron Howard's newest film, "The DaVinci Code" for example) and others are prone to overlook our mistakes by mistake. But such egregious errors of judgment, scholarship, and good taste by such learned men as Dan Brown must be pointed out for the sake of Scholarship and scholars everywhere. Heavens to Betsy, we cannot allow Illuminated Ones to lose the Light of Knowledge forever due to one sooty flame. Nor can we as Christians who are charged with sharing the Gospel of Jesus with the entire world allow a man such as this (or Ronny Howard) to stand in our way. Oh, yeah, the Star of David had been around for centuries before the Pagans plaigarized it and gave it the man/woman meaning, then dumped it in favor of the further perversion of the star: a Pentagram. Not a Pentacle, as wiccans will argue, which means good magic. No such thing. But I digress. Dan Brown has obviously never read the Bible, which is a factual historical document, warts and all.. even King David's warts. It is what all real history books should be: a cautionary tale, a revealing text about what to do and what not to do in terms of general everyday living, a guide to the future based upon faithful retellings of the mistakes of the past.
Hopefully, enough of us will faithfully retell how Danny Brown made such a mistake that authors in the future will be forced to actually research their work and also provide some sort of story we can actually enjoy with characters who seem to actually be real people with actual convictions that can actually be admired.
There is nothing admirable about doing what is the literary equivalent of throwing gallons of day-glo paint on the Mona Lisa, smashing holes in Michelangelo's David, punching your grandma in the face, and calling yourself a free-thinker. Christianity is not out-dated or old, and if it were, then we should burn down the Universe for the same reason.
I am sorry that the Christ I believe in has been so poorly represented by folks anyone looks up to and is disappointed by. But that is just the way it goes. My walk with Christ is not yours, nor is yours mine. Christ made us all individuals on purpose, and He knows that, has always known that. It is up to us to find out who we are in Him. There really is no other way to enlightenment or Heaven but through Him.
We do not proclaim His deity. He did so, many times and many years before the so-called Council of Nicea in this TDVC book claims to have done it for Him because His word was somehow not good enough. His miracles weren't enough, nor (as He knew full well) were his miracles going to convince everyone of His Godhood, simply because He knew exactly who was going to be convinced and who wasn't because He made all of us, and He made us all different. If we were all the same, it wouldn't happen that we were commenting about such a crummy flick as TDVC. Heck, we wouldn't know what crummy was. Thank God we do.