I left most of this idea as a comment at another blog earlier, and I decided that it was something I felt strongly enough about to mention here. The early word is out that the Da Vinci Code movie is apparently just not very good. That's really not that big a surprise. There are more bad movies released every year than there are good ones, so just by playing the odds it's a safe bet that Ron Howard's movie ain't gonna be great.

Still, why has the book been so popular in the first place? Why are so many people frothing at the mouth to see the movie? Why do people buy into this stuff on such an epic scale?

I think it comes down to this: People LOVE conspiracy theories! They just eat that stuff up! I'm surprised at the large number of otherwise-intelligent people I've met who believe that JFK was assassinated by a cabal of CIA and Cuban operatives... or who believe that the government is hiding alien spacecraft in Nevada... or who believe that FDR allowed Pearl Harbor to happen... or that Proctor and Gamble are in league with Satan... etc, etc, etc. For whatever reason, people love the idea that any large organization is corrupt and involved in a cover-up conspiracy of some kind... and they're even willing to believe that about the Church itself. It never ceases to amaze me that so many smart people can't believe in the obvious and undeniable existence of God and yet can believe in the wackiest conspiracy theories imaginable!

We live in a world that, by and large, argues that religious faith as an antiquated, small-minded, silly fantasy. At the same time, we've got Cynthia McKinney and Charlie Sheen advancing the nutty notion that the government played a roll in 9/11... and there are people who take him seriously.

Beam me up, Scottie. This place is full of morons.