Seeing ‘The Da Vinci Code’ For What It Is

To the Editor:

The film version of The Da Vinci Code opens soon, and by now most intelligent people know that there are scores of errors in things author Dan Brown claims are factual in his work of fiction. The TV show 60 Minutes recently ran a segment explicating the “Priory of Sion” hoax — far from being a secret society, it was the invention of a 20th Century French anti-Semite who planted phony documents to back up his fantasy. The “other gospels” supposedly suppressed by the Church were later syncretic pastiches, often showing Jesus as less human and more anti-woman than the real gospels. Mary Magdalene was not only not suppressed; she’s a saint in the Catholic Church. Christian and non-Christian scholars from many fields, ranging from art history to etymology, have pointed out that just about everything in the book is false.

However, it is sad to see the data showing that a huge percentage of people think that many of the so-called “facts” are true. One especially stands out: the “fact” that the Catholic Church supposedly murdered “millions” of women as witches, especially midwives and those with herbal knowledge, in order to suppress a “woman-centered religion.” This fantasy, manufactured out of whole cloth from a spurious document of the 18th Century, was spread by a British feminist named Matilda Gage and quickly adopted by Wiccans, though thankfully most now reject the myth, as do feminist scholars.

Scholarly research shows that:

1) The number of the dead was approximately 40,000–60,000, not millions;

2) Most were in Protestant, not Catholic, countries;

3) Not all were women, about 25 percent were men;

4) Not only were midwives not singled out, but a woman actually had less of a chance of being executed if she was a midwife;

5) None of those put to death had been charged with practicing a pagan religion;

6) Most were accused by ordinary citizens, not the church, and many of the accusers were other women;

7) The majority were condemned by secular, not religious, courts, during a time when capital punishment was far more common than it is today.

For more information on this topic, see the feminist site www.gendercide.org/case_witchhunts.html, do an Internet search for Charlotte Allen’s excellent article “The Scholars and the Goddess,” or see Oxford historian Robin Briggs’ 1996 book, Witches and Neighbors. For links to more general information, see www.celestialnavigation.net/dvc.htm.

For those who feel, “It’s just fiction; it isn’t worthy of this response,” I would reply: years ago, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a virulently anti-Semitic Russian forgery, was published. Today, it’s a best-seller in the Middle East, where it’s taken as fact. While people with IQs above those of wolverines know that The Da Vinci Code is fiction from beginning to end, including its major premises, the book has the same possibility to mislead people generations into the future.

Many people will enjoy the movie as a thriller, but it’s not necessary to park one’s brains at the door to do so.

Mary Taylor

31 Jeremiah Road, Sandy Hook                                  May 9, 2006