The Da Vinci Code Draws Protest as Filming Begins

The film adaptation of Dan Brown’s controversial novel, “The Da Vinci Code,” is stirring controversy and protests in England. Filming for the movie began yesterday in London, but according to UK-based publications, protests against it began Monday with the shouts of a single nun. By Tuesday, about 200 people stood with the nun, compared to about 40 who came approached the filming area hoping to see the movie’s star, Tom Hanks.

“To a believer, any believer, what is happening is blasphemous,” said Sister Mary Michael, who held a prayer vigil outside Lincoln Cathedral where the film is set.

The Da Vinci Code, which is a novel about Richard Langdon’s attempt to solve a murder with the help of clues in a Leonardo Da Vinci painting, has drawn heavy criticism from Catholics and Protestants worldwide, and with good reason; Along the way, the mystery alleges that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a child.

Part of the book is set in Westminster Abbey, but church officials refused permission for the film to be shot there. However, the nearby Lincoln Cathedral accepted an offer to double as Westminster in exchange for £100,000

Sister Mary, who is from Our Lady’s Community of Peace and Mercy in Lincoln, criticized the Dean of Lincoln, the Very Rev Alec Knight, for accepting the donation and allowing the filming. However, the Dean said he believes the book is not blasphemous because “it’s fiction.”

"It has been attacked as blasphemous because it argues that Jesus's humanity included an element of sexuality,” said Knight. “My view is that the book is not blasphemous. It does not denigrate God in any way."

Meanwhile, Sister Mary said she did not read the book, but had read about it and understood its errors. She, like most traditionalists, said the storyline was based on agnostic heresy.