While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. Solving the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci --- clues visible for all to see, and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion, an actual secret society.
In a breathless race through Paris, London and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who appears to work for Opus Dei --- a clandestine, Vatican-sanctioned Catholic organization believed to have long plotted to seize the Priory's secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's secret --- and a stunning historical truth --- will be lost forever
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you believe that conspiracy theories regarding religion truly exist and that societies guard these secrets from the public?
2. What do you think would happen to people's beliefs if they found out that religion was no longer based on belief, but based on known facts?
22 comments:
1. Yes there are things that societies guard from the pulic because maybe they believe that the public will not be able to comprehend those secrets. I believe they exist for religions as powerful as christianity and the Vatican there will be secrets, for over the years there have been hints and news of corruption in the Vatican. Almost everything powerful in the world today has its secrets.
1. Possibly, though if their are secrets about the major religions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc.) I do not think they would change the whole system of thought regarding the religion as the secreet in The DaVinci Code is foreshadowed to.
2. Nothing, and the reason for this is simple, there would be no possible way to prove any of it first of all, and second even if this revolutionary evidence were able to be proven without a doubt that doesn't really mean anything because God is not a consequence of religion, religion is a consequence of God. Plus, for people who believe in God (such as myself) religion is already based on known facts, and I'm not sure anything could change what I know.
2. If a single religion was proven true by legitimate fact, there would no longer be "religion". A religion is a set of related beliefs about past events that cannot be proven. If one religion WAS proven true, however, it would dispel many other religions and more people would begin to follow in the ways of the religion that was based on facts
1. Yes, I believe that there are many secrets involving modern day organized religion. It's ridiculous not too. The Catholic church for one is huge on secret and it always has been. Everything happens behind closed doors in such huge religions and I would not be surprised If i were confronted by such a society if I were to start researching the more shadowy areas of organized religion.
2.I already believe that religion is based on a mixture of truths and beliefs. Myself being religious, believe that God reveals the truths thatt are necessary and that the rest we are expected to have faith and believe.
Obviously there will always be people who choose to believe in religion and those who don't. The argument will always be raised whether religion is fact or merely human belief. I find both Justin and Leah's arguments valid, but will there ever be an answer to find out who is truly right?
1. If people found out that religion was no longer based on belief, but based on known facts, people would be extremely upset because their beliefs may be proven wrong by facts. If someone found out that what they have been believing for their entire life was completely wrong, they would be upset and angry. I think they would deny the new facts
Regarding question one, I think there are some things that leaders a in society do not and should not tell to the public. These things may be for the greater common good, not conspiracy theories meant to hide things from the public. However, that does not mean that these cover-ups do not exist. I am skeptical that they do exist, only because if they do our government is able to completely cover it up with no physical proof.
Regarding question two, I think that if proof was given that was completely irrefutable and people found out that religion was no longer based on belief but on facts they would not know what to think or what to believe. If there was any doubt in the argument that religion was based on fact, there would be those who would not accept the evidence and continue believing what they always have.
I don't think there will ever be an answer as to which religion is right. Depending on who you are talking to, their religion is the true one. Most of the major religions have striking similarities, and maybe combined they are all "right". Most religions are based on faith, not proven facts. Are the writings based on real people and events, or just stories that have been misinterpreted? Faith is what makes religion what it is, and is why it is so difficult.
I do not believe that conspiracy theories guarded against exist. People want to believe that they do because they desperatly search for reasons why this happens or that happens, while that to me is just unrealistic. Things happen sometimes unexplainably, without conspiracy or secret societies.
I believe conspiracy is a large possibility since i also believe religion was created to unknowingly oppress society into believing or acting on a set of morals and values. The choosing of these morals and values or the way the religion itself was created had to be decided somehow along with ways to hide its true identity, with this conspiracy is a likely result.
Conspiracy theories are prominent in society today because of cynical individuals who feel the need to sensor one's beliefs. Groups of people rally for a certain cause because they want to believe that specific events did not occur (i.e. the moon landing). Their cynical attitudes overshadow the true meaning of the actual event taking place.
I feel as though any conspiracy theory COULD truly exist, not that any necessarily do. Now whether they actually do I don't believe so. The society guarding said secrets from the public would have to be so incredibly strict with who is let in and how the group is maintained. The better question is how would we know if they're keeping secrets? It wouldn't be a secret if we knew about it.
I agree with what Tyler said and find that conspiracy theories are possible when talking about religion. If new facts were to be voiced to the public, disproving some aspect of their religion then I think that chaos would erupt and that all religions would ultimately crumble in some way.
1. It's highly unlikely that the conspiracies about religion are true. All throughout history people have speculated but they have never come up with undeniable proof. Conspiracy theories have surely been around as long as religion. If they were valid, one would have turned up as true by now
For question one, it is completely possible for conspiracy theories to exist. People are always trying to disprove each other's beliefs so they're going to do what they can to accomplish this goal
I think that if people found out that religion was based on true facts, there would definately be a little bit of a scuffle between different groups. There is already tension between different groups of people without there being scientific eveidence that certain events ever occurred. I think that if proof that certain things happened, the religious affliliations that have the so called "advantadges" because of this proof would try to force themselves and almost find themselves to be better than the other groups, which could easily be the source for conflicts, tension, and war.
1. Yes, I think the society and government hide many things from the public, including religious conspiracy theories. I think they just don't want to upset the public and believers of that certain religion.
2. I think more people would start believing. It is no longer a fictitious story written down by monks years ago, but an actual known fact. I know I would be more confident in religion if it was a true fact.
2. I think if they found that a certian religion was based on fact more people wounld start to believe. People can more easily believe in somthing that they can see or know is true. I still think there would be some people who would fight against the religion saying the info isnt true.
Religion is based on faith and belief. If one religion were proven true the religion would no longer be a religion. it would defeat the purpose of the religion and nobody would truly believe in anything anymore
2) Well, if religion was based on fact, it would no longer be a belief, it would be truth. So people would no longer believe in anything, they would know what happened. This would eliminate much of the arguments going on between religions, but there will always be those that argue that the facts are not right, so people will never believe exactly the same things.
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