Magic Statistics

Guardian columnist Theo Hobson ponders the reasons for the popularity of the Da Vinci Code (DVC).  Is it just that whopping conspiracy theories are in vogue, especially when presented as a fast-paced thriller?  That’s important, but he discerns more going on here.

The Da Vinci Code phenomenon is a sign of spiritual cowardice. Those who are fascinated by the conspiracy theory lack the courage either to accept Christianity in some form or to reject it entirely. So they inhabit a strange limbo of cultic fascination, parasitic on the religion it claims to unmask. They do not exactly believe Dan Brown's theory (no more than he does himself), but they flirt with believing it. Maybe it was like this, they say. Maybe we have not been told the truth about the real Jesus. Maybe he married Mary Magdalene and started a royal bloodline. That would really put the cat among the clerical pigeons! No wonder the churches have always denied the possibility so defensively.

It is a cowardly and inauthentic response to religion, a failure to be serious about what is serious. Religion is a serious, grown-up business. It involves a claim to truth that must either be accepted or rejected. Either you believe some form of Christianity to be the meaning of life or you reject it in all its forms. In the latter case, you will either prefer another religion or you will dismiss every religion as erroneous. Both options are intellectually respectable. What is not intellectually respectable is the conspiracy theorist's attempt to duck the question of the truth or falsity of Christianity, by wondering whether another story might be concealed within the conventional one.

To focus, as the DVC apologist is wont, on the bare bones of the story—did Jesus die and rise again, or did he get married and raise a family—is still to miss the point.  Christianity is a religion, offering reconciliation with God and eternity with Christ.  DVC, having only minimal theological content, barely rises to the level of heresy—and a singularly cynical one at that.  What does it offer beyond a few hours entertainment?  (Well, OK, a few devotees have turned it into years of entertainment by making pilgrimages to the sites in the book.)  Certainly nothing of eternal significance.

The DVC phenomenon tries to ride the coattails of Protestantism in particular, which was born accusing Catholicism of covering up the unvarnished gospel of Jesus.  But here, too, DVC, because it fails to offer a genuine alternative account of Christianity, must be viewed as a parasitic and fundamentally unserious distortion of true religion.

Read the whole thing.

via Christianity Today Weblog.

Previous related posts:

• Diocese of Sydney takes on the Da Vinci Code
• Tom Wright on the Da Vinci Code

Two other planets in our solar system appear to be undergoing climate change.

First, Jupiter.  Space magazine documents the evidence:

New Storm on Jupiter Hints at Climate Change

A storm is brewing half a billion miles away and in a rare event, astronomers get to watch it closely.

Jupiter is growing a new red spot and the Hubble Space Telescope is photographing the scene. Backyard astronomers have been following the action, too.

"Red Spot Jr." as it is being called, formed after three white oval-shaped storms—two of which were at least 90 years old—merged between 1998 and 2000.
. . .
The latest images could provide evidence that Jupiter is in the midst of a global change that can modify temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit on different parts of the globe.

Second, Mars.  The Heartland Institute reports:

Mars Is Warming, NASA Scientists Report

The planet Mars is undergoing significant global warming, new data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) show, lending support to many climatologists' claims that the Earth's modest warming during the past century is due primarily to a recent upsurge in solar energy.

Martian Ice Shrinking Dramatically

According to a September 20 [2005] NASA news release, "for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress." Because a Martian year is approximately twice as long as an Earth year, the shrinking of the Martian polar ice cap has been ongoing for at least six Earth years.

The shrinking is substantial. According to Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mars Orbiter Camera, the polar ice cap is shrinking at "a prodigious rate."

Two more Space magazine reports on Martian global warming are available here and here.  I blogged this phenomenon back in January.

These observations would appear problematic for the contention that climate change on Earth is caused by human activity.

Jupiter link via Opinion Journal - Best of the Web.
Mars links via John Francis, Victoria, BC, letter writer at SteynOnline.

Previous related posts:

• Has global warming been oversold?
• Cleaner air may be exacerbating global warming
• Climate scientists choked