Few things merit more rejection than affirming that which is not true. Such an act offends the object of the attack and betrays the trust of those who hear it.
The gravity of the offense is magnified when the object is Christ and His Church and the audience is the readership of a runaway bestseller.
It is in this context that the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) has just released a book that unmasks Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code as an attack on the foundations of Christianity itself.
Denouncing the use of fiction to spread error, the book, Rejecting The Da Vinci Code: How a Blasphemous Novel Brutally Attacks Our Lord and the Catholic Church, is certain to be part of the controversy surrounding the soon-to-be-released film version of the bestseller.
Written by the TFP’s Committee on American Issues, the 124-page book puts its readers in a position to dispute Dan Brown’s claims against the Church surreptitiously scattered throughout his fictional narrative. Moreover, it denounces the hidden “code” behind The Da Vinci Code – Gnosticism.
Rejection Not Only Refutation
As the title states, the TFP book does more than just refute that which is not true: it calls for outright rejection of Brown’s book and its hidden doctrine.
It rejects as offensive the assertion that the Catholic Church is guilty of the “greatest cover up in human history.” It rejects as blasphemous the core premise of the plot that Christ was not God and was married to Mary Magdalene and had children. It rejects as absurd the resurrected Gnostic heresies embedded in the text which were so ably refuted by Early Church Fathers.
Perhaps the idea most worthy of rejection is the oft-repeated assertion that the novel is only fiction and therefore harmless.
Indeed, the TFP book notes that the author seems to want to have it both ways: claiming the book is both fact and fiction. While the subtitle sustains the book is “A Novel,” his unusual introduction is titled “Fact.” This “Fact” page is a sweeping statement attesting to the accuracy of his descriptions. On the other hand, even his fast-moving plot goes beyond fiction by scorning serious historic facts and embracing the unreliable sources and mysticism of ancient Gnostics. ‘Tis a strange “novel” indeed, this book which carries bibliographic references.
The TFP book debunks both the fact and the fiction by showing the inaccuracy of his descriptions and denouncing the use of fiction to make error more palatable.
The Sacred Feminine and Other Myths
Ironically, a book that claims the Church has hidden the truth for two thousand years has its own hidden doctrine.
Dan Brown makes common cause with radical neopagan and even “Catholic” feminism in its bid to restore the worship of what they call the “sacred feminine.” His characters claim that Constantine and his successors established a patriarchal Christianity, stamping out the ancient goddess worship and denouncing the sacred feminine as evil.
The TFP book analyzes this hidden “sacred feminine” doctrine so deftly promoted by Brown with chapters on the androgynous goddess of Gnostic eroticism and the allusion to Luciferian Gnosticism found in the bestseller.
Indeed, a whole section exposes the basic tenets of Gnosticism described as the devil’s false wisdom. It shows how the Gnostic sect promotes a total perversion of morals and how the Early Church Fathers and even the Apostles fought long and hard to keep this pernicious and superstitious philosophy (with its Gnostic “gospels”) from infiltrating the Church.
Inserting The Da Vinci Code into Context
Beyond the hidden message, The Da Vinci Code must also be put in context of the cultural war currently being fought between Christianity and militant secularism.
This is not just a harmless novel but part of a wave of blasphemous art and literature mocking and questioning everything the Church holds sacred. It further capitalizes on the obsessions of those who have used the pretext of sexual abuse scandals to portray the Church as corrupt, patriarchal and anachronistic in matters of sexuality.
By presenting sophisticated arguments beyond the scope of the common Christian, Dan Brown does not play fair. He exposes countless souls to doubt and skepticism about the very foundation of Christianity itself. The fact that so many Catholics are so poorly catechized only adds to the dangers the book presents.
Profession of Faith
In this sense, Rejecting The Da Vinci Code is a profession of faith. It sets the record straight with the facts. Verifiable and reliable facts. Unlike Her enemies, the Church has no hidden secret or code and has never been afraid to proclaim the truth in its entirety.
Readers will find their Faith strengthened and doubts dispelled. They will also find themselves thrust into this cultural battle with all the elements to refute the absurd claims found in this bestseller. With over 35 million copies in print, everyone knows someone who has been influenced, if only slightly, by the book’s absurd claims. Rejecting The Da Vinci Code also promises to be the centerpiece for planned protests to the film version.
Finally, the TFP book invites its readers to grow in their love of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It calls upon them to redouble their love for a God so good yet so reviled by a blasphemous novel that cruelly attacks Him without reason.
Handbook for Action
Fortified with the material in this book, readers will be able to go into action. In his foreword, Father Andrew Apostoli calls the work an apologetic handbook “just the book we need to set the record straight.”
Father John Trigilio, President of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, calls it “a brilliant, succinct and convincing refutation.”
“Rejecting The Da Vinci Code shows that history itself and the inspired, inerrant and revealed word of Sacred Scripture truthfully tell us the real story,” the noted lecturer continued, “not Gnostic propaganda from the fourth century and not bizarre conspiracy theories based on forgeries of a twentieth century delusional Frenchman.”
Why It is Important
Militant secularists have long attacked Christian morality as oppressive and outdated. They have attacked religion as unenlightened and irrational. However, despite massive efforts, these attacks have failed to wrench God from America’s profoundly religious soul.
More recently a new tactic has been introduced in the form of a wave of blasphemy. The most effective way to attack Christianity is to attack its center: Christ. Thus, revisionist authors are rewriting the Christ story to support their political, social and anti-religious agendas and “shake the foundations of Christianity.”
Christianity has survived such attacks only because there have always been brave souls who rose to the occasion and opposed these furious assaults. Rejecting the Da Vinci Code is written for those brave souls.
Rejecting The Da Vinci Code
TFP Committee on American Issues
Paperback – 124 pp.
American TFP, (October 8, 2005);
ISBN: 1-877905-34-8, $8.95
Call 1-888-317-5571 to order or read it online here.