Brown’s novel has become a publishing phenomenon, selling more than 25 million copies and spawning a further 26 titles purporting to “explain” its plot elements.

Like most thrillers, it has a fanciful plot, but this one has a religious twist—featuring a detective-scholar who uncovers a murderous conspiracy backed by the Catholic Church to suppress the fact that Jesus Christ was not divine.

Though a popular thriller, The Da Vinci Code is also a complicated book. For those of us who profess faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ, the book is also anti-Christian.

Through his characters, Brown makes the following claims:

But this book demands a response because it not only misrepresents the Church as a murderous institution but also implies that the Christian faith itself is utterly false.

It is wrong to dismiss the controversy surrounding The Da Vinci Code by saying it is “only a novel”. All fiction, whether excellent or rotten, influences how readers see the world, even if they are not aware of it. This is even more important when the writings touch on faith or morals.

In the case of The Da Vinci Code, what is more pernicious is that Brown claims that his work of fiction has been meticulously researched. The author goes to great lengths to convey the impression that the story is based on fact.

Brown – who is not Catholic and declares himself a “peculiar kind of Christian” – has been open about his desire to “expose” the “truth” about Christianity and the Catholic Church. He has also been vocal about his intention to promote a certain ideology, namely radical feminism.

The Da Vinci Code draws on the New Age movement for ideas. This current of philosophy – not a religion, strictly speaking – is widespread, even among Catholics. Unfortunately, it is even possible to alter the language of Christianity and turn it into one of the many offerings in the New Age cafeteria of beliefs.