LONDON (CNS): A British survey has found that reading The Da Vinci Code undermines people’s trust in the teachings of the Catholic Church.
People who read the novel by Dan Brown were twice as likely to think Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene than those who had not read the book, according to a survey conducted by the Opinion Research Business.
Readers were also four times more likely to believe that Opus Dei is a murderous Catholic sect, the survey said.
The Da Vinci Code Response Group, which commissioned the survey of a sample of 1005 adults from May 12-14, said the results indicate there should be a “health warning” at the start of the film.
The story includes an albino Opus Dei monk who carries out murders in an attempt to hide the truth about Jesus.
Jack Valero, a spokesman for Opus Dei in Britain, described the statistics as “astonishing”.
