WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- Churches around the nation's capital are planning sermons to prepare their parishioners for the opening of the movie "The Da Vinci Code" later this month.
A spokesman for the Washington-based U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops feels that if people see the movie they should go informed.
"'The Da Vinci Code' kind of gave a focus that there's a lot (of misinformation) about Jesus Christ and Christianity out there, and perhaps it's time to rebut it," Monsignor Francis J. Maniscalco said in an article in The Washington Times Sunday.
The movie, directed by Ron Howard, is based on the best-selling novel by Dan Brown which claims Jesus and Mary Magdalene married and had a daughter whose bloodline still exists. The book reads like a giant Christian conspiracy theory with the Catholic Church as a villain, the Times article said.
Falls Church Episcopal plans sermons on the movie this month. Rector John Yates feels it poses certain questions the church needs to address.
"My hope would be that it would cause people to want to go back to the New Testament and read about Jesus more carefully than they ever have before," he said.
