DA VINCI CODE DIARY- Two Weeks in the Life of Britain's Da Vinci Code Response Group.
I think it's the smartest response to that nonsense that I've seen yet.
... The media know that everyone will want an opinion on the DVC, and that it’s their job to host the discussion. We think we should be a part of it.
That means avoiding two errors. One is to be angry placard-waving Christians spoiling everybody’s fun. That plays right into Sony’s hands, and gives the media the headlines they want on the story they’re looking for (the old blasphemy v. free speech story.) The other error is to lie back and say, “what’s all the fuss about? It’s just fiction, isn’t it?” Big mistake: because while you, Mr and Mrs Catholic, rightly think it’s all hunkum, a lot of people out there believe this stuff; and they believe it because of a deceitful marketing strategy asserting fiction as fact. We think someone should issue a health warning: don’t take this stuff seriously ...
... Everyone is intrigued that we are not calling for a jihad.
“We do not believe in condemnations, boycotts or protests,” we say in our statement. “Prickliness on the part of Christians leads us into the trap laid by Dan Brown: that the Church is on the defensive because it is engaged in a cover-up.”
As we had guessed, the real interest in us is our approach. We haven’t given them the “Christians furious at blasphemy” headline, and they’re intrigued. The statement is widely reported in the daily papers, and members of the Group are all over the radio and TV.
The media want to know—fair enough—whether the Church will allow its claims to be probed, because the secular assumption is that faith can’t be discussed. We are showing that the Church is open to serious discussion—while being careful not to treat the Gospel of Dan Brown as a threat. The media want to give us Catholics an Oscar for indignation; we prefer to get an Oscar for politeness ...
2 comments:
In all *politeness*, I thought I'd point out that your link may need to be fixed. It goes to microsoft.com...
Thanks. It had one too many "http"s. It should be taken care of.
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