It is interesting that so many people are getting worked up over the release of the "Da Vinci Code" movie. There was a letter in the local paper proclaiming we should all boycott the movie because Dan Brown has made money from defaming the name of Jesus Christ and we shouldn't stand still for it. Maybe this should be recognized as a work of fiction (perhaps about another work of fiction.)

    Would this be such an awful thing if it was found to be true?<gasp> I am pretty sure that to be a rabbi, at least back in the early days, you had to be a married man. Thus it would have made sense for Jesus to be married. Would a marriage negate the message that was delivered? Could you still get into heaven if somehow he hadn't died for your sins? I don't know. Who made up these rules anyway? God? ...So I guess whatever "He" wanted to do, he could do.

     If the "Code" gets people to really examine their faith, researching the facts should either make faith stronger or disprove the premise. I think the second possibility is what the uproar is really about.

      If someone questions their faith, perhaps they might arrive at a different conclusion as an adult than they did as a youngster. The path to religious freedom may start at freedom of thought. Truly thinking about your beliefs may bring them home to you, or you may decide that organized religion has pulled a shroud over your eyes.      This actually brings us to my second point. If the work is fiction, why are the fundies getting all worked up about it? It is just a story after all. (I'm talking about Dan's book here.) I think historians have agreed that the premise is an interesting one, but documentation doesn't support it. If someone is really going to be influenced by the film or the book, how strong was their faith to begin with?