Nouslife: Westminster Abbey counters Da Vinci Code

31 May 2005

Westminster Abbey counters Da Vinci Code

I recently visited a family member and we briefly chatted about the Da Vinci Code. 'It's just a novel' I was told when I reacted by saying that I wasn't that happy about it's factual inaccuracies. True enough, but it starts off with a statemtn that the details are true and it gives tha timpression that the only fiction is the plot and the prinicple characters. I pointed out that it may be only a novel but that people tended to believe the incidental details and that it threfore made my job harder. So I would like to record this for my peace of mind and your edification! -
"Factual errors identified in the manuscript include mentions of metal detectors in the abbey which don't exist, a claim that Alexander Pope delivered the eulogy at Isaac Newton's funeral, and the assertion that visitors can carry out brass rubbings. 'Although a real page turner, The Da Vinci Code is theologically unsound and we cannot commend or endorse the contentious and wayward religious and historic suggestions made in the book, nor its views of Christianity and the New Testament,' a statement from the abbey said."