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Government is right

The Tamil Nadu Government has done the right thing by suspending the screening of the film The Da Vinci Code in which the life of Jesus Christ has been portrayed maliciously without any basis. A blasphemous attempt to malign the unblemished life of a divine person cannot be justified in the name of freedom of expression.

G.E.M. Manoharan,
Coimbatore

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It is true that Christianity has overcome threats and persecution over the years and hence The Da Vinci Code will not affect the faith of true Christians. But screening it raises some vital issues.

The argument that it is a work of fiction does not convince because Christ is a real character. Dan Brown's wild imagination about Christ is an encroachment into Christian belief and life.

M.C. Francis,
Kochi, Kerala

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Fictitious presentation of Christ as having married, etc., clearly denigrates his divinity. It is an insult to the abiding faith of those who believe in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ.

Edwin S. Alexander,
Nagercoil, T.N.

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Using the real life institutions of Christianity and Jesus Christ to take leverage for a fictional story blurs the line between fact and fiction. If Dan Brown really wanted to write fiction, he could have created a fictional religion.

Naman Dayal,
Tulsa, Oklahoma

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The decision to ban The Da Vinci Code for security reasons is laughable. It would have been more commendable had it been banned for distorting facts. Writers like Dan Brown should understand that mixing fact with fiction is like mixing nitrogen and glycerine — the result can be explosive. Hurting the sentiments of millions around the world for the sake of selfish artistic expression is unfortunate.

Oscar Priyanand,
Secunderabad

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R.K. Narayan once said a novel is about an individual living his life in a world, imagined by the author, perhaps performing a set of actions contrived by the author.

To take a work of fiction as a sociological study or a social document could be very misleading. If one has true faith in one's religion, why should the film affect him or her?

P. Muthanna,
Coonoor, T.N.

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