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 ilipinos wear their religion
on their sleeve, or so it seems.
 And
with the supposedly blasphemous subject matter of the movie, The Da
Vinci Code, the fringe groups are fuming with righteous indignation.
Last week, the Manila city council passed a resolution banning the
showing of the film anywhere in that city. That proved to be a bonanza
for adjoining cities where no ban was in effect. And late this week
over a hundred members of a Catholic group set up a book burning
demonstration at the Bonifacio monument in Manila. Due to the high cost
of paperbacks in the Philippines, not to mention the high demand for the
book due to the film and the controversy surrounding it, not very many
books were torched. A few videos were tossed in the pyre--bootleg copies
of course since the DVD isn't out yet.
 Like many things Filipino, these acts had a lot of drama but little
substance.
More
than a few of those demonstrating never even read the book or saw the
movie. In this country of "accidental" Christians (if Magellan's
ship had veered a few degrees left or right, we'd all be reading the
Koran and praying facing Mecca several times a day)
the need to outdo one another in piety and devotion to the faith causes
some to go to extremes that would make even members of Opus Dei cringe.
As a people, we must leave all the shallow dramatics behind and begin to
mature in our Faith. And we need to understand that there are many other
beliefs out there that deserve our understanding and respect.
But back to
the novel. According
to Helen LaKelly Hunt, author of the book, Faith and Feminism: A Holy
Alliance, "the centuries of brutal suppression of women's voice and
potential" by the Church "is the reason for the astonishing popularity
of The Da Vinci Code." Such a perspective seems lost on those
demonstrating against the book and movie.
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