Cracking the Da Vinci Code

By John Cheeran
There are Christians in Kerala, India, but none is bothered to crack the Da Vinci Code out here. Why?
A few Christians I have spoken to, during my trip to Kerala, are eagerly awaiting the release of the movie. Meanwhile bookshops are doing brisk business in selling the paperback editions of Da Vinci Code.
It has been surprising that a few other states with a sizeable Christian content in the Indian Union have been vocal in raising their objection to the release of the Hollywood movie. Catholic church is leading the crusade against the movie and they are demanding a disclaimer saying that the movie represents a fictional account and is removed many miles from reality.
The reason why the Christian Kerala is cool with the movie is this.
All Catholics are Christians
All Christians are not Catholics.
Kerala’s social scene is dominated by Eastern Orthodox churches and they are not too keen to act as the moral police in the Da Vinci Code affair.
Kerala has had its storms over freedom of expression in the past. The stage version of the Nikoz Kazantzakis novel Last Temptation of Christ led to widespread outcry but now with no local involvement in the Da Vinci Code, Kerala is just not bothered.
The two prominent factions of the Eastern Orthodox church are engaged in a fratricidal war and they have no time for the sensitivities of the Catholic Christian Inc.
It may be the good fortune of the rest of Kerala that they will be able to watch the movie as and when it is released.