Year after year, our secular culture seeks to eradicate every public display of devotion to the Christ Child during the Christmas season. “Merry Christmas” is replaced with an empty-sounding, “Happy Holidays.” Cities rename their traditional Christmas trees “Holiday” trees and nativity scenes are removed or banned from public squares. The trend is worrisom.
In stark contrast to this secular and anti-Catholic spirit, TFP Student Action has been campaigning on college campuses to defend the honor due to Our Lord Jesus Christ, attacked in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.
The goal of these campaigns is two-fold: first, to make reparation before God for the sin of blasphemy, and second, to inform the public that The Da Vinci Code contributes to the loss of faith. TFP Student Action also offers a solid refutation of the Gnostic errors in Dan Brown’s book.
On Thursday, December 1, Student Action took their message to Ohio State University in Columbus, which has an enrollment of over 50,000 students. While on campus, TFP volunteers collected signatures to send to Columbia Pictures. The signatures were attached to a message informing the studio that millions of Catholics across the nation oppose the release of “The Da Vinci Code” movie, scheduled for May, 2006.
In spite of biting cold weather and a light snow, students reacted favorably to the TFP’s message. The following is a sampling of reactions Student Action members encountered on campus:
One student said: “Give me that. I’ll sign it! You know what? I’m sick and tired of people trying to tell me that what is in The Da Vinci Code is true. I have friends who consider themselves smart and they believe it. They’re wrong, I’m sick of it and I’m going to sign against it!”
Later on two women, who looked like professors, approached TFP Student Action member Cesar Franco. One began: “What is this?” When Mr. Franco explained that the TFP was opposing the upcoming film, “The Da Vinci Code,” they laughed loudly, trying to belittle the effort, and declared, “You just need to live and let live!”
Mr. Franco then asked if they would also apply their “live and let live” theory to slavery. “Well, no, that’s different,” they replied. “Slavery hurts somebody.”
“In that case,” Mr. Franco continued, “you must be against abortion. Not only does it hurt unborn children, it kills them.” The discussion’s friendly air vanished and the atmosphere became visibly heated: “I knew that was going to come up!!” one lady said. “You can do whatever you want with your body! When you have a baby you can talk!!” Mr. Franco replied: “I’ll let all the pro-life women speak for me.” Then the two women abruptly tried to change the subject.
Another student refused to sign the petition. When he was asked why, he insisted he would not sign “because of freedom, freedom, freedom.” A discussion ensued about the limits and nature of freedom. After a few minutes, he changed his mind and agreed that freedom is not absolute, law must be rooted in morality and morality must be rooted in God. “I guess what we disagree on is…well, what do we disagree on?” He concluded: “I agree with you and I support what you’re doing.”
TFP Student Action is gearing up to take the issue of The Da Vinci Code to other campuses across the nation. Armed with the TFP’s latest work, Rejecting The Da Vinci Code: How a Blasphemous Novel Brutally Attacks Our Lord and the Catholic Church, Student Action hopes to spark intellectual debate on campuses that will forever consign the slander and errors of The Da Vinci Code to the dustbin of history, for nothing less than the honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Catholic Church is at stake.