As I've watched the debate rage on about the movie (and book) "the Da Vinci Code", I have noticed an interesting pattern. Most (not necessarily all) of the individuals I see arguing most passionately that the movie is "no big deal" and saying that somehow there's something wrong with Christians who oppose it are the same people who argued that the Danish newspapers shouldn't have printed the infamously offensive cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. While the cartoons were no more based in fact than Dan Brown's work, the argument was made that the cartoons represented a form of cultural insensitivity towards Muslims.

So let me get this straight: slandering Christianity = A-OK; slandering Islam is a horrible offense?

Now don't get me wrong. I don't take Dan Brown seriously, nor, in fact, do most people I know. But I am wholly offended by those who would insist that Christians should just shrug their shoulders at what many consider heresy, while holding an entirely different standard for practitioners of another faith. The fact is, even among the most radical Christians, the outrage doesn't even BEGIN to approach what we see when similar attacks on Islam take place (remember "the Satanic Verses"?). We're not rioting, we're not (for the most part) picketing, and, while many churches have used the book as a springboard to a teaching opportunity to those who would ask questions, we're not even that outraged. I know many Christians who have read the book and consider it good fiction, even if they aren't appreciative of the historical revisionism that is being presented as fact in numerous documentaries surrounding the book and the movie.

To say that "the Da Vinci Code" doesn't have an agenda is wholly misleading. But it is an agenda that Dan Brown, Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, and anybody else should have the freedom to advance, as long as they do so honestly and not under the shroud of deception that surrounds this movie. But as much as they have the right to advance their agenda, Christians have a right to be outraged. I think it's silly, frankly, as to me it would be the equivalent of getting upset about Dr. Seuss, it is nonetheless a legitimate bone of contention. And the supporters of Dan Brown's work of FICTION would do well not to mock those who would be offended.