|
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Editorial: Da Vinci Code furor
WHILE the City Council is busy with a lot of legislation -- most of which deals with prepared measures passed by the barangay councils anyway -- it did take the time to make its stance on the brewing controversy over the "Da Vinci Code" film.
If we heard correctly, Councilor Juan Sia proposed in his special report that the film be re-classified to the adult audience only with minors being prohibited from seeing the movie, which is scheduled to be shown sometime this month.
According to his rationale this would prevent minors from having a distorted view of Christianity because the movie espoused what many in the Christian world consider as heretical views of Jesus Christ.
Among the theories postulated by the movie and the book, which spawned the film are that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene got married, Jesus is only human and that His descendants still live to this day.
While the book is considered fiction there had been no clear attempts by the author to present these stories as products of fiction which compelled both Catholic and Protestant churches to denounce the book and movie in the strongest terms.
In fact the Catholic Church hierarchy said it was surprised that the Christian community was not up in arms denouncing the movie and book in the same way that the Muslim community took to the streets to denounce what they considered as sacrilegious depictions of the prophet Mohammad in a cartoon in a Dutch newspaper.
Though Christianity is considered a religion of tolerance its opposition to anything maligning its faith is not wanting as evidenced by the schools in Cagayan de Oro-Catholic, which was reported to be pushing for the outright ban of the movie in the city.
Which is in a way, similar to what Manuel Morato, who used to chair the Movie Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) did to "The Last Temptation of Christ", another controversial film.
When compared with their proposal, Sia's measure seems tame by comparison. Still by banning the film it only draws the interest of a lot more people who may be swayed by the theories espoused in the movie.
At any rate despite the popularity of the movie and book it still cannot destroy thousands of years of faith built up by the Church.
So while the film may not be banned and it can still be shown through DVDs in the market anyway, the Church can do its part through counter-programming which it has every right to do.
(May 3, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here.
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
|
