Local pastor leads 'The Da Vinci Code' challenge
[FINAL Edition]

The Post and Courier - Charleston, S.C.
Author: JENNIFER BERRY HAWES        
Date: Mar 26, 2006
Start Page: G.1
Section: FAITH&VALUES
Text Word Count: 821
 
Copyright The Post and Courier Mar 26, 2006

The Rev. Dr. George Hamilton leans his large frame back in his office chair, peers down through his glasses and flips open the popular thriller "The Da Vinci Code," one of two copies he's embarrassed to admit he owns.
The page that most angers him is up front titled simply "FACT."
It describes Opus Dei as a Catholic "sect" and the Priory of Scion as a "secret society." The page ends with: "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."
"The audacity of him ... ," Hamilton trails off. "It's one thing to say the book is a novel. But when you say it is fact, that puts it in a different class."
Hamilton, pastor of W.O.R.D. Ministries Christian Center in Summerville, is fuming over the May 19 release of the movie version of author Dan Brown's 43-million-copy best-seller.
The movie is directed by Ron Howard and stars Tom Hanks as a professor who becomes entangled in a fast-paced murder mystery that attacks the most basic of Christian tenets. And if the movie isn't getting enough attention, the novel's paperback edition is set for release Tuesday.
So what's a pastor to do? Hamilton created a group called Christians Against Blasphemy that is providing a rallying point for the faithful from various denominations -- Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals and others -- who want to protest the movie.
Hamilton says he has signed up 3,500 members around the country and logged 8,000 signatures locally among people who don't want the movie shown here. His group also includes about 40 local churches, he says.
If he can't keep the film out of town, Hamilton plans to urge the area's large Christian community to boycott it. He also wants to organize protests at theaters that show the movie.
His biggest fear is that the movie will plant seeds of doubt among people who are not religious or whose Christian faith is not strong.
"It's going to hurt potential Christians, young Christians and hurt some mature Christians who think they can handle it and don't realize the subliminal message in their spirit," says Hamilton, who has a doctorate in theology.
Pastors typically don't preach about things such as the origins of Christianity or the history of biblical manuscripts. So, many Christians aren't familiar with the scholarship behind claims in the book, such as that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married.
"People will leave the theater thinking that Brown has discovered something," Hamilton worries.
"If he had facts that contradicted biblical Christianity, the community would want the truth. But he says in this book that everything we have learned from our forefathers is a lie."
The book gives Christians plenty to chew on.
Brown's tale contends that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had a child with her, that Jesus' divinity is a fraud and that the Roman Catholic Church viciously stifled pretty much anything it didn't like, especially all things feminine.
That's why Hamilton keeps plenty of company these days with those trying to counter the book and the upcoming movie.
For instance, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has created a Web site (JesusDecoded.com), produced a television documentary that will air when the movie is released and is publishing a booklet challenging the book's premises.
Hollywood writer Janet Batchler and Barbara Nicolosi, executive director of Act One, which trains Christians for careers
in Hollywood, are urging people to see other movies the weekend "The Da Vinci Code" film opens to keep it from hitting the No. 1 spot.
They point to the movie "Over the Hedge," directed by Karey Kirkpatrick, a Christian.
And still others are taking the "teachable moment" approach -- that is, to use the movie's hype to talk about Christianity.
In response, Sony Pictures has gathered dozens of Christian scholars and evangelicals to provide commentary on a Web site (TheDaVinciChallenge.com).
Taking part are such well-known Christian names as George Barna, Tony Campolo, Chuck Colson, Lee Strobel and Ben Witherington III, who tackle various issues the book raises.
Hamilton also recently joined a long list of authors who have written books attacking "The Da Vinci Code." His book, "The Lies of The Da Vinci Code Exposed," is being released this month by Parousia Publications.
In it, Hamilton points to evidence that Jesus wasn't married, explains why certain manuscripts that Brown refers to were not included in the New Testament and argues that Brown created his conspiracy theories using documents written by a convicted criminal.
Hamilton also criticizes the media for promoting the book as truth without adequately questioning Brown's scholarship. And he worries that all of the press attention the book and the movie are receiving will only fuel interest.
"I feel sorry for Christians who go," he says. "And I feel sorry for pastors who are going to have to deal with it."
Reach Jennifer Hawes at jhawes@postandcourier.com or 937-5489.
Credit: The Post and Courier

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