There was a quite nice saying in one of some comments of a blog: “Although I haven’t seen/read the thing, I would like to state a personal opinion.” That is definitely what can be referred to the head of the Latvian Catholic Church. The archbishop states that he definitely has not read it, and is not even thinking about reading it. However, this man says that the book is blasphemous and he can name several facts about it. At this point I would like to stop the tape and shout out loud: “Hello?! How can you criticize anything or form a personal statement not even bothering to pay a little attention for reading the thing?” To my mind, it is nonsense. I mean, of course, he might find it completely contrary to the dogmas of the church. Of course, it is his job to maintain the prestige of his institution. Of course, that was even expected. But heeey – to judge something, you must get to know it.

Honestly, in my opinion, most of this chatter is stupid. How could reading a plain novel affect the religious belief of a sincere Christian? Do they really think that just reading the book is a sin? Maybe I do not have this ordinary attitude to the religion, but I opine that faith is something what is deep inside the person’s soul, something so true that no tome can change it. The Catholic Church again is trying to be as conservative as they can and to quench anything that can spark off. It could be just some sort of a resistance to the fact that they are losing influence in the modern world. In this case it would just be another chance for the Catholics to remind the rest of us of their existence. Anyhow, I believe that God would judge us not depending on some silly books or other trivia, but the inner part of the soul.

Or maybe the conspiracy theory sounds more reasonable? Just imagine: the more the Church cries about this “sinister and wicked” book and film, the more people they will actually attract to reading the book or watching the movie. It is the law of human nature. Negative publicity is still a sort of publicity. In fact, two excellent examples may be provided. The first takes place in the USA. After the first teenage killing spree in one of high schools, the second was not too long to follow. The cause is that so much attention was diverted to the youngster who committed the serious crimes. He was shown on the news, in the newspapers – in almost all mass media. This attracted another mindless fellow. This time, though, no attention was paid to the delinquent. And the second is common in Latvia nowadays. Despite all the actions done to prevent people from burning last year’s grass, the number of fires has steadily increased from year to year. Now people have started to think about the consequences of spotlighting this misfortune. Now they think it makes teenagers do this, since so many people talk about it. So here we come to the idea about the Da Vinci Code. Some people have guessed that there is a contract between the Holy Chair and Hollywood to provide these actions, because the more the fuss, the more the profits. The both sides win. Vatican reaches its aim by condemning such evil actions and keeps its face and maintains its constant attitude towards the modern world. Hollywood achieves its aim, too, by making cash. Much cash.