Catholic Cardinal Urging Legal Action Against Da Vinci Code Movie

Tell me this doesn't sound just a little bit like the Christian version of the Danish cartoon story:

In the latest Vatican broadside against "The Da Vinci Code", a leading cardinal says Christians should respond to the book and film with legal action because both offend Christ and the Church he founded.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, a Nigerian who was considered a candidate for pope last year, made his strong comments in a documentary called "The Da Vinci Code-A Masterful Deception."

Arinze's appeal came some 10 days after another Vatican cardinal called for a boycott of the film. Both cardinals asserted that other religions would never stand for offences against their beliefs and that Christians should get tough.


"Christians must not just sit back and say it is enough for us to forgive and to forget," Arinze said in the documentary made by Rome film maker Mario Biasetti for Rome Reports, a Catholic film agency specializing in religious affairs.

"Sometimes it is our duty to do something practical. So it is not I who will tell all Christians what to do but some know legal means which can be taken in order to get the other person to respect the rights of others," Arinze said.

I totally disagree with Arinze. It's a movie, Mr. Cardinal, that's it. If you don't like what they've done, don't go see it. It's that simple. Legal action, much like boycotts, rarely do what the organizers think they'll do, and usually only stir up interest among otherwise disinterested people.

I personally have no plans to see the movie, not because I'm boycotting it, but because the subject doesn't interest me at all. In a free country everybody gets to make that choice for themselves.

If you want a Christian perspective on the Da Vinci Code, let me point you once again to Dr. Mark D. Roberts series on the book. You can then decide for yourself whether it's worth $10 and 2 hours of your time.

Meanwhile, Hollywood is starting to pay attention to the churchgoing market:

Long criticized by conservative Christians for profiting from violent or sexually graphic films that corrupt the young, Hollywood is starting to see there is money to be made catering to those critics.

"On Sunday, 43 percent of America was in church," Jonathan Bock, head of a movie marketing company that specializes in religious audiences, said at a panel discussion on "What Would Jesus Direct?" at the Tribeca Film Festival this week.

"For studios to not recognize that's an audience is like them saying, 'We're not marketing movies to men,'" Bock said.

He and others on the panel, including a 20th Century Fox executive, said the turning point was Mel Gibson's 2004 movie "The Passion of the Christ," which surprised many in Hollywood by grossing more than $370 million in the United States.

"Until two months before it was released, it was pretty much known as the least commercial property in Hollywood," said Michael Flaherty, whose production company was behind "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "Because of Winn-Dixie," both with strong spiritual or moral messages.

"There's a lot of people in the faith community who are looking for these films that are uplifting," Flaherty said.

The real question is whether the knowledge that uplifting movies sell tickets will translate into more quality movies. The reality is that uplifting movies don't tend to win awards, and I think that many in the Hollywood community would rather put out an R-rated stinker that won acclaim for its "art" rather than put out a movie with wide appeal to churchgoing folks that is snubbed by the Hollywood elites. I sometimes wonder whether the Hollywood studios in are in the movie business to make money, or just collect gold-plated statues.