Codes and Conspiracies
In his Easter Day sermon the Archbishop of Canterbury, in a veiled reference to the media frenzy which The Da Vinci Code has prompted, warned people against participating in the plethora of conspiracy theories in which contemporary society tends to delight. I was one of that post-War generation brought up to believe that our national leaders were trustworthy and morally upright people, and that the policies and programmes of government were accountable and transparent. When I went to university in 1956 to study history and politics these views were hardly challenged, apart of course from learning about wicked old Machiavelli and the corrupt nature of politics in mediaeval and Catholic Italy. But he of was a foreigner, and the British don’t behave like that! I considered myself to be a child of a much more enlightened free and democratic polity immune to political conspiracies.
My disenchantment began when undertaking postgraduate studies in the USA during the Viet Nam War, where it became apparent that the leadership of the so-called Free World was manipulating the media to obscure the truth of what was happening. They justified it later as necessary propaganda to keep up the morale of the nation. Since then experience has taught me to be increasingly distrustful of politicians and the way they handle information. Lately, with both George Bush and Tony Blair having been economical with the truth about weapons of mass destruction in Saddam’s Iraq, and with the securing of oil supplies and ‘regime change’ now apparently having been the true motivations for the disastrous war in Iraq all along, who can blame a sceptical public for being acutely aware of conspiracy theories? They are of the essence of the way we are governed today.
The release of the film of The Da Vinci Code this week has prompted a flurry of media attention. There have been countless TV documentaries looking at aspects of the background to the novel, from the non-Canonical Gospels, to the Knights Templar, to the Roman Catholic society Opus Dei. There has been a flood of letters to the editors of newspapers, and a spate of organizations springing up to persuade people either not to see the film at all, or to employ its ‘false teachings’ as an opportunity to proclaim the True Faith. Typical of these ad hoc groups is the US based Interfaith Coalition Against the Da Vinci Code which maintains that the book and film defame Jesus Christ, undermine people’s faith in the Church, and celebrate paganism and satanic rituals.
There appears to have been a sea change in the Roman Church’s perspective on the film. With that Church, particularly in Italy, initially taking an extremely negative attitude with one Cardinal urging Roman Catholics to boycott the book and the film, the Church now seems to have succumbed the view that any publicity is good publicity. It is now being suggested that the controversy the book and film have aroused present a wonderful opportunity to set the record of Jesus straight and to proclaim the orthodox position that he lived and died a chaste and celibate man. English critic A N Wilson, a former Anglican ordinand, sees this as a crucial moment in the Church’s history and suggests, I suspect rather tongue-in-cheek, that the Church has been forced into the position of making a forceful response, otherwise its authority will be eroded for ever. Even Opus Dei, that conservative and largely secret organisation upon which The Da Vinci Code’s Priory of Sion is allegedly based, is admitting that what was originally taken to be negative publicity has had the beneficial effect of making the organisation much better known and even attracting people to joining it. So much for the Archbishop of Canterbury’s warning that we should be wary of conspiratorial theories and organizations. Apparently ever more of us are rushing to embrace them.
All this publicity may have placed the Roman Catholic church centre stage but by no means all publicity this week has been good publicity. Firstly came the news that the Vatican will continue to keep a tight lid on historical documents from the Pontificate of Pius XII, of whom it is alleged that he appeased the Nazi regime. The argument that the Church does not engage in secrecy and conspiracy instantly evaporated. Then Tony Blair, having been forced by his image as a lame-duck Prime Minister to make a radical reshuffle of his Cabinet, filling it with loyal Blairite New Labour supporters, has moved prominent Opus Dei member, Ruth Kelly from Education to a portfolio which embraces issues of equality and inclusion. Tackled by reporters eager to expose her conservative religious views, she consistently refused to say whether gay and lesbian citizens should be afforded equal treatment. Nor would she say whether homosexuality is a sin, although her Church teaches it is more than just a sin, rather a disorder and “tendency towards intrinsic moral evil”. The media was quick to point out that Ruth Kelly has absented herself from all Parliamentary votes on gender and sexual orientation issues including the controversial new legislation approving civil partnerships. She maintained under questioning that her personal religious views were not carried over into her government work. Given that one of the basic tenets of Opus Dei is that members must reflect their Christian convictions in their work and workplace, this has placed her in an untenable situation and there have been calls for her resignation.
The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy O’Connor, tried to support Ruth Kelly’s position by insisting that the Church had always had an inclusive view of homosexuality. This prompted a flood of letters to the papers, especially in The Times, from people who posed such questions as whether it is possible for a person who believes homosexuality to be morally evil to honestly defend the rights of gay people. And the Cardinal’s intentional language was a few days later betrayed by his personal behaviour when it was revealed that his one-time Press Secretary had been dismissed from his post on the grounds that he was gay and that it was not appropriate that a gay person should hold such a post within the Roman Catholic Church. Such highhanded behaviour within church circles which patently pay no respect to inclusion or rights continues to fuel the beliefs that first, the Church is a very secretive organization, protective of its image, and secondly that there is an enormous gulf between what it says and what it does. And this is the stuff of which conspiracy theories are made.
Most of the reviews of the film of The Da Vinci Code are not very complimentary about it, and it may not achieve the blockbuster status of the novel. This fictional work does however prompt us to reflect upon the way that throughout history much of the Church’s life has been compromised by social and political conspiracies. We might join the Archbishop of Canterbury in wishing otherwise, but so long as we inhabit a political and economic culture which abounds in deceit, secrecy, crime, manipulation, propaganda, corporate raiding, asset stripping, industrial espionage and sleaze there is little chance that people will stop putting their faith in conspiracy theories.
My disenchantment began when undertaking postgraduate studies in the USA during the Viet Nam War, where it became apparent that the leadership of the so-called Free World was manipulating the media to obscure the truth of what was happening. They justified it later as necessary propaganda to keep up the morale of the nation. Since then experience has taught me to be increasingly distrustful of politicians and the way they handle information. Lately, with both George Bush and Tony Blair having been economical with the truth about weapons of mass destruction in Saddam’s Iraq, and with the securing of oil supplies and ‘regime change’ now apparently having been the true motivations for the disastrous war in Iraq all along, who can blame a sceptical public for being acutely aware of conspiracy theories? They are of the essence of the way we are governed today.
The release of the film of The Da Vinci Code this week has prompted a flurry of media attention. There have been countless TV documentaries looking at aspects of the background to the novel, from the non-Canonical Gospels, to the Knights Templar, to the Roman Catholic society Opus Dei. There has been a flood of letters to the editors of newspapers, and a spate of organizations springing up to persuade people either not to see the film at all, or to employ its ‘false teachings’ as an opportunity to proclaim the True Faith. Typical of these ad hoc groups is the US based Interfaith Coalition Against the Da Vinci Code which maintains that the book and film defame Jesus Christ, undermine people’s faith in the Church, and celebrate paganism and satanic rituals.
There appears to have been a sea change in the Roman Church’s perspective on the film. With that Church, particularly in Italy, initially taking an extremely negative attitude with one Cardinal urging Roman Catholics to boycott the book and the film, the Church now seems to have succumbed the view that any publicity is good publicity. It is now being suggested that the controversy the book and film have aroused present a wonderful opportunity to set the record of Jesus straight and to proclaim the orthodox position that he lived and died a chaste and celibate man. English critic A N Wilson, a former Anglican ordinand, sees this as a crucial moment in the Church’s history and suggests, I suspect rather tongue-in-cheek, that the Church has been forced into the position of making a forceful response, otherwise its authority will be eroded for ever. Even Opus Dei, that conservative and largely secret organisation upon which The Da Vinci Code’s Priory of Sion is allegedly based, is admitting that what was originally taken to be negative publicity has had the beneficial effect of making the organisation much better known and even attracting people to joining it. So much for the Archbishop of Canterbury’s warning that we should be wary of conspiratorial theories and organizations. Apparently ever more of us are rushing to embrace them.
All this publicity may have placed the Roman Catholic church centre stage but by no means all publicity this week has been good publicity. Firstly came the news that the Vatican will continue to keep a tight lid on historical documents from the Pontificate of Pius XII, of whom it is alleged that he appeased the Nazi regime. The argument that the Church does not engage in secrecy and conspiracy instantly evaporated. Then Tony Blair, having been forced by his image as a lame-duck Prime Minister to make a radical reshuffle of his Cabinet, filling it with loyal Blairite New Labour supporters, has moved prominent Opus Dei member, Ruth Kelly from Education to a portfolio which embraces issues of equality and inclusion. Tackled by reporters eager to expose her conservative religious views, she consistently refused to say whether gay and lesbian citizens should be afforded equal treatment. Nor would she say whether homosexuality is a sin, although her Church teaches it is more than just a sin, rather a disorder and “tendency towards intrinsic moral evil”. The media was quick to point out that Ruth Kelly has absented herself from all Parliamentary votes on gender and sexual orientation issues including the controversial new legislation approving civil partnerships. She maintained under questioning that her personal religious views were not carried over into her government work. Given that one of the basic tenets of Opus Dei is that members must reflect their Christian convictions in their work and workplace, this has placed her in an untenable situation and there have been calls for her resignation.
The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy O’Connor, tried to support Ruth Kelly’s position by insisting that the Church had always had an inclusive view of homosexuality. This prompted a flood of letters to the papers, especially in The Times, from people who posed such questions as whether it is possible for a person who believes homosexuality to be morally evil to honestly defend the rights of gay people. And the Cardinal’s intentional language was a few days later betrayed by his personal behaviour when it was revealed that his one-time Press Secretary had been dismissed from his post on the grounds that he was gay and that it was not appropriate that a gay person should hold such a post within the Roman Catholic Church. Such highhanded behaviour within church circles which patently pay no respect to inclusion or rights continues to fuel the beliefs that first, the Church is a very secretive organization, protective of its image, and secondly that there is an enormous gulf between what it says and what it does. And this is the stuff of which conspiracy theories are made.
Most of the reviews of the film of The Da Vinci Code are not very complimentary about it, and it may not achieve the blockbuster status of the novel. This fictional work does however prompt us to reflect upon the way that throughout history much of the Church’s life has been compromised by social and political conspiracies. We might join the Archbishop of Canterbury in wishing otherwise, but so long as we inhabit a political and economic culture which abounds in deceit, secrecy, crime, manipulation, propaganda, corporate raiding, asset stripping, industrial espionage and sleaze there is little chance that people will stop putting their faith in conspiracy theories.
posted by MichaelElliott @ 7:52 AM
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