|PIC1|As The Da Vinci Code holds its world premiere, Christians across the UK have expressed their dismay as a new survey reveals that people who have read Dan Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’ are twice as likely to believe the book’s fictional story, that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, than those that have not read it.

The Catholic Church, which has fought against the inaccuracies in the book vigorously, has told that it is particularly worried about the movie-version of the book will undermine people’s beliefs in the Christian doctrine, in light of the study results.

The poll was conducted by a Da Vinci Code Response Group, and of those questioned 60 percent of those that had read the book believed that there was truth to the suggestions in the book regarding Jesus and Mary Magdalene. This compared to just 30 percent of those that had not read the book.

Readers of the book were also found to be four times more likely to think the Catholic organisation ‘Opus Dei’, featured in the novel, was a murderous sect, than those that had not read the book, with 17 percent of readers polled believing it had, compared with just 4 percent of non-readers. The result was found from a survey of 1,000 people carried out by Opinion Research Business.

Jack Valero, spokesman for Opus Dei UK, described it as “astonishing”. He said, “Since we were founded in 1928 Opus Dei has promoted the highest moral standards at work, spreading a message of Christian love and understanding, yet the Da Vinci Code has persuaded hundreds of thousands of people that we have blood on our hands,” report Ekklesia.

|PIC2|Opus Dei has not made any pleas for any protests or boycotts, but Valero said, “We have been saying that The Da Vinci Code is harmless fun as long as you don’t take it seriously. But it will be hard for Catholics to enjoy the film knowing that hundreds of thousands do take it seriously.”

The Da Vinci Code Response Group, which is made up of priests, theologians and members of Opus Dei, has said it wants the film-version of the novel to carry a disclaimer stating that it is a work of fiction. The group has accused author Dan Brown and the producers of the film of promoting and marketing the work of fiction dishonestly as fact.

The novel has been read by more than one in five adults of all ages across Britain. In addition, the survey found that of those that had read the book, 32 percent thought the ‘Priory of Sion’ (a twentieth-century hoax by a French monarchist) was a real medieval organisation. But the figure fell to just 6 percent among those that had not read the book.

The DVC Response Group co-ordinator, Dr Austen Ivereigh, who is the Archbishop of Westminster’s Director for Public Affairs, said, “Our poll shows that for many, many people the Da Vinci Code is not just entertainment. For many it is just fiction. But an alarming number of people take its spurious claims very seriously indeed,” according to Ekklesia.

The director of The Da Vinci Code film, Ron Howard, responded to the calls for a disclaimer to be added to the movie, by saying the film did not need one any more than a simple fictional spy movie.

|TOP|Ivereigh said, “From the start, the marketing strategy behind the Da Vinci Code has been to claim that it is based on respected theories. Brown and Sony have encouraged people to take it seriously, while hiding behind the claim that it is fiction. Our poll shows they should take responsibility for their dishonesty, and issue a health warning.”

Tom Hanks and The Da Vinci Code movie team left London 16th May to make their way to the 59th Cannes Film Festival, where the film is being show on the opening day.

The outcry against the movie has been widespread, with public protests and boycotts called for in Thailand, India, El Salvador, Malaysia, Singapore as well as South Korea.

The Indian government, on 16th May, has applied a temporary block on the film's release, even though the country’s censor board had passed it. However, the country's broadcasting ministry said that, having received more than 200 complaints, it had to take time to consider the complaints.

A coalition of Christian groups in Bangkok have demanded that their government censor the final 15 minutes of the movie due to the sensitive and confusing content that insults Christian teaching. However, the sensor board have yet to reply on the matter with the movie due to be released 18th May.

|AD|In South Korea, a court has rejected the request from the Christian Council of Korea to block the release of the film. A judge at Seoul Central District Court judged, “As it is clear that the novel and movie are all fiction . . . there is no probability that the movie can make viewers mistakenly believe the contents are facts.”

In the Philippines, censors have approved the film despite the outcry from the country’s churchgoers deeming the content of the movie to be blasphemous.

In El Salvador the Catholic Church has told its followers to boycott the movie when it opens. The Archbishop Fernando Saenz Lacalle, of the Salvadorian Bishops Conference told that the film was dangerous fiction. He said, “It's dangerous because it tries to convert lies into truths and confuse the faithful.”

In Singapore, censors have tried to appease protestors by offering the movie a NC16 rating, so only those over 16 years of age can gain access to watch the movie. The board said only mature audiences would "be able to differentiate between fact and fiction".

The Da Vinci Code movie world premiere took place on 17th May 2006 at the Cannes Film Festival 2006.