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Da Vinci Code on Steriods

When I first read this USA Today article I had to double check and make sure it wasn't from The Onion. The main lady in the article claims to have "proof" that she is a direct descendant of Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ. She not only believes The Da Vinci Code, she believes she is The Da Vinci Code. Unreal. The article does point out that she won't offer any evidence:

So far, McGowan is offering only her word about her lineage and only hints at her proof. In addition to the visions, she says, she has discovered that her family is related to an ancient French lineage that traces its roots to Jesus and Mary Magdalene's descendants. Legend holds that Mary Magdalene settled in France after Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. "That's all I'm prepared to say right now," McGowan says. Some members of her family, she explains, want her to respect their privacy and not discuss it.

But what really got to me were some of the quotes:

[Trish] Todd [editor in chief at Touchstone, a division of Simon & Schuster] says she has no problem believing McGowan's claim that she descends from a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. "Yes, I believe her. Her passion and her mission are so strong, how can she not be?"

Kirshbaum [former CEO of Time Warner Books] believes McGowan when she says she is a descendant of Mary Magdalene. "I feel she's entirely credible," says Kirshbaum, who read The Expected One after McGowan self-published it last year. "She spent 20 years of her life researching this subject. You have to give her any benefit of the doubt because she's totally rational. I believe her absolutely. She had total credibility with me from the very beginning."

I run into two types of people. The first group says, "No one is idiotic enough to believe The Da Vinci Code is real. It's just fiction." The other group says, "Well, he does make some good points." They're both wrong, obviously, but I'm surprised at how deeply some people believe this trash anyway. I've seen more and more good arguments that destroy everything Dan Brown put in his book. But people are still suckered in (it's our job to clear the air, so to speak). I did enjoy this part of the article:

"A historian simply has to look at what evidence there is," says Bart Ehrman, chairman of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and author of Peter, Paul & Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend (Oxford University, $25). "You can survey anyone who is a scholar of early Christianity and they will all tell you the same thing. It's completely bogus."

God bless,
Jay