There are some indisputable facts in life.
Everyone will die. Republicans and Democrats will never get along. Poverty will always plague humanity. And Americans love movies.
In 2005, adults watched an average of 45 movies. The mean was identical for born again Christians and nominal Christians. And that figure doesn't even include the movie clips that they were shown while the faithful were in church! Currently, two-thirds of all Protestant churches have big-screen projection capabilities. In congregations that use movie clips for teaching purposes, 77% of congregants contend that those visual media are helpful in their spiritual development. Movies have become the benign educator of choice in our media-happy society.
Coming soon to a theater near everyone will be the big screen interpretation of the mega-selling novel, The DaVinci Code. This spellbinding work of fiction has captivated the minds of more than 30 million readers. The forthcoming film, featuring a huge budget and some of the best talent Hollywood has to offer, promises to intrigue audiences while challenging people's perceptions about the Christian faith.
The book makes many claims that are at odds with Christian teachings. Author Dan Brown's engaging conspiracy fantasy has Jesus Christ married to Mary Magdalene and the father of children; the Bible being doctored by church leaders in 325 A.D. in order to control the Roman Empire and oppress women; claims that the idea of Jesus' divinity was fabricated for political reasons; and asserts the Roman Catholic church has conspired for centuries to keep the documentation of such religious scandals a secret.
Many followers of Christ fear that the movie, which will be even more accessible to the public at-large than the book, will distort people's theological perceptions. This fear is well-founded. Americans already possess an unorthodox profile of religious beliefs, indiscriminately blending biblical and cultural views. Among adults who are aligned with a Christian church, 59% do not believe that Satan exists, 42% contend that Jesus Christ committed sins during His earthly tenure, and just 11% believe that the Bible is the source of absolute moral truth. In fact, millions of Americans are confused about the Bible. On the one hand, six out of ten (61%) believe that "every word in the Bible is true and can be trusted." On the other hand, only half as many affirm that the Bible is "totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches." Americans admit that they are more likely to seek theological clarity from friends, family, experiences and even media input than from diving into biblical texts.
So it is in the midst of this environment of confusion that this blockbuster movie will offer attractive heretical propositions. Entering theaters essentially as biblical illiterates, millions of adults are vulnerable to the seductive religious arguments it will propose.
Many Christians recognize that the book is a fictional tale and that its religious principles are not to be taken seriously. Conveying that point to the 80 million adults who consider themselves Christian but who do not crack the Bible may be more difficult than usual. After all, 53% of a national sample of adults who have read The DaVinci Code from cover to cover stated that the book had been helpful in their "personal spiritual growth and understanding."
How might Christians who accept the Bible's account of the life of Christ react to the release of this movie?
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