The Australian Anglican church is ready to spend $50K to debunk Da Vinci claims:
In an unusual move by a major church, the Anglican Church-funded cinema ad campaign will bombard moviegoers with advertisements questioning the book's central claims, including that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene had children.
Based on Dan Brown's bestseller, the movie, which stars Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, is set to be one of the year's major blockbusters.
Anglican Media Sydney will run 20-second ads on 250 screens in 15 multiplexes in Sydney, Wollongong and Shellharbour.
The ads, which promote a new website created by the organisation - http://www.challengingdavinci.com - will start on May 11, a week before the release of the film, and will run for four weeks.
The money has come from funds set aside by the Sydney Anglican Diocese's synod last year to be used in promoting the gospel in popular media.
Bishop Robert Forsyth, chairman of Anglican Media Sydney, said the church had seized the opportunity to capitalise on the interest the film is expected to create in the story of Jesus to talk to people who otherwise would not normally go near the church.
"We've been surprised and challenged in that The Da Vinci Code has created a lot of interest in Jesus," Bishop Forsyth said.
"We are not afraid of the film. We are not seeking to discourage people from seeing it. But we are well aware of the power of film, and the danger of what is actually a fictional story filling the information void about Jesus."
Things ought to be heating up in the next few weeks. And just wait till my sermon!
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