The Catholic Church, which has fought against the inaccuracies in the book vigorously, has told that it is particularly worried about the movie-version of the book will undermine people’s beliefs in the Christian doctrine, in light of the study results.
The poll was conducted by a Da Vinci Code Response Group, and of those questioned 60 percent of those that had read the book believed that there was truth to the suggestions in the book regarding Jesus and Mary Magdalene. This compared to just 30 percent of those that had not read the book.
Readers of the book were also found to be four times more likely to think the Catholic organisation ‘Opus Dei’, featured in the novel, was a murderous sect, than those that had not read the book, with 17 percent of readers polled believing it had, compared with just 4 percent of non-readers. The result was found from a survey of 1,000 people carried out by Opinion Research Business.
Jack Valero, spokesman for Opus Dei UK, described it as “astonishing”. He said, “Since we were founded in 1928 Opus Dei has promoted the highest moral standards at work, spreading a message of Christian love and understanding, yet the Da Vinci Code has persuaded hundreds of thousands of people that we have blood on our hands,” report Ekklesia.
Opus Dei has not made any pleas for any protests or boycotts, but Valero said, “We have been saying that The Da Vinci Code is harmless fun as long as you don’t take it seriously. But it will be hard for Catholics to enjoy the film knowing that hundreds of thousands do take it seriously.”The Da Vinci Code Response Group, which is made up of priests, theologians and members of Opus Dei, has said it wants the film-version of the novel to carry a disclaimer stating that it is a work of fiction. The group has accused author Dan Brown and the producers of the film of promoting and marketing the work of fiction dishonestly as fact.
The novel has been read by more than one in five adults of all ages across Britain. In addition, the survey found that of those that had read the book, 32 percent thought the ‘Priory of Sion’ (a twentieth-century hoax by a French monarchist) was a real medieval organisation. But the figure fell to just 6 percent among those that had not read the book.
The DVC Response Group co-ordinator, Dr Austen Ivereigh, who is the Archbishop of Westminster’s Director for Public Affairs, said, “Our poll shows that for many, many people the Da Vinci Code is not just entertainment. For many it is just fiction. But an alarming number of people take its spurious claims very seriously indeed,” according to Ekklesia.
