Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Christian groups are attempting to censor the Da Vinci Code movie all over the world, wherever they can get away with it. In Thailand:
In Thailand, government censors ordered the final 10 minutes of the film be cut following a meeting Tuesday with a coalition of Thai Christian groups protesting the content of the film."If they are going to screen this, we asked that they cut out the conclusion of the movie that Jesus still has heirs alive today," said spokesman Manoch Jangmook, of the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand.
They were turned back in South Korea:
In South Korea, which has 13 million Protestants and 4.6 million Roman Catholics, a court ruled Tuesday that a Christian group's request for an injunction to block screenings lacked merit.
The movie's release was at least delayed in India:
In mostly Hindu India, which is also home to 18 million Roman Catholics, Joseph Dias, head of the Catholic Secular Forum, began a hunger strike in downtown Bombay and said other people were joining him."We want the movie to be banned," he said.
The film had been set for release in India on Friday and had already been cleared by the national censor board. But Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said he put a temporary hold on the movie after receiving more than 200 complaints.
And then there's Greece:
In Athens, Greece, some 200 religious protesters, waving crucifixes and Greek flags, demonstrated Tuesday in protest of the film. The protesters _ including Orthodox monks and nuns _ later marched peacefully to parliament."All religions merit respect, so why don't they show respect in this case instead of attacking all that we hold sacred?" said Athanasios Papageorgiou, president of St. John the Theologian group in Peania, east of Athens.
"I've read the book. It's despicable," he added. "The Muslims for one cartoon burnt anything, so what should we do?"
You should not see the movie. You should speak out against it if you want. Other than that, you should shut up and not attempt to censor it. It really is that simple.
Comments
Why can't they get through their head that there is a simple response to things they don't like ...
-book = don't buy it or read it
-movie = don't go to it
-TV = turn the channel or ... *gasp* turn it off
-Act = don't do it
Want to protest the movie? Sure, go ahead. But ban it? That personally makes me want to see it, and honestly I had no interest in this movie whatsoever.
Posted by: dogmeatIB
| May 18, 2006 11:18 AM
One word= pathetic.
I don't even know if I'll see the movie in theater preferring the X-men but it is amusing watching these folks get it a wad over this.
Posted by: Chance
| May 18, 2006 11:32 AM
It's also been banned in Manila. Of course, these nitwits are producing exactly the effect that they don't want. A mediocre (at best) movie is going to become a blockbuster because of the hype.
Posted by: ArtK
| May 18, 2006 12:25 PM
In Brazil, Catholic congressman Salvador Zimbaldi tried to ban the movie. Since the Supreme Federal Tribunal, which rules on consitutional matters, would not accept his case, he tried a local court in the state of São Paulo. According to a Folha de São Paulo report in may 9th (here in Portuguese) the motion was rejected and Zimbaldi's lawyer filed for appeal. The result was due 48 hours later, and since I haven't heard or seen anything else on the subject, the court most likely rejected it again.
The best parts: his "argument" is that the movie violates the constitutionally protected freedom of belief, and he swears he doesn't want to censor the movie. No, sir, I'm just standing up for the truth and protecting a constitutional freedom by notviolating said freedom.
Zimbaldi, you're making baby Jesus cry.
Posted by: Marcelo Greco
| May 18, 2006 1:28 PM
DAMMIT! They ruined the ending for me! Now I know that it's going to end just like Dogma!
Posted by: FishyFred
| May 18, 2006 2:38 PM
I'm surprised that all Greece could muster was a peaceful demonstration. They literally tried an Austrian cartoonist, Gerhard Haderer, for blasphemy in 2002 after he published a book satirizing the life of Jesus. (Haderer didn't even live in Greece, but he was compelled to stand trial there due to EU extradition laws.) He was finally acquitted in April 2005, but as far as I know the blasphemy law wasn't revoked. Maybe they learned their lesson from that affair?
Posted by: Ebonmuse
| May 18, 2006 3:44 PM
Banned in Manila? WTF, me and my GF are planning on watching that flick this weekend! Oh wait, the article seems to suggest that it's only the City of Manila, not the whole Metropolitan area, that banned DVC. Phew, that's a relief. :)
Posted by: Danny Boy
| May 18, 2006 6:37 PM
I find it very amusing. I will probably see the movie in spite of the presence of Tom Hanks. The tack I have seen (including a contingent from my own church) is that "we" should see the movie and then meet to tear it apart. Many of the folks in that contingent in my church have read the book and are planning to get together to discuss it when the really slow readers (they've had 8 weeks thus far) get done with it. I read it quite awhile ago and thought it was on a par with a Robert Ludlum novel. I have thought every bit of contraversy was just ridiculous, and this book has had contraversy in spades. I think that the most hilarious aspect of the "right's" method of dealing with it is to get people to support it. I have noticed this reaction to things they find offensive a lot lately, buy it, read/watch it then "debunk" it. It is a very silly way of dealing with things they find so evil. . .
Posted by: Treban
| May 18, 2006 6:38 PM
India's Censor Board has cleared the movie for release, but acceeded to the Christian groups' demand for disclaimers (that the movie is fictional!), both at the beginning and the end of the movie. I don't like these special disclaimers, but I guess dodo brains need them!
Posted by: therationalfool
| May 18, 2006 7:25 PM
In my town (well, a nearby town), a woman circulated a petition asking the local cinema not to show the movie. She got 500 signatures, which is quite significant in a town of only 3000 people. The theater owner still plans on showing it, though, so we're going to see it just to support his decision (no-one in my family is terribly excited by the movie).
Posted by: Skemono
| May 18, 2006 10:05 PM
The movie is rated R-18 in the Philippines although it will not be shown in the largest movie theater chain.
Posted by: roychoco
| May 18, 2006 10:46 PM
Nonsense, because of the dual criminality principle, he would only be compelled to do so, if it was also a crime in Austria.
Of course, there could be a trial without him being present, and then, if he set foot in Greece, he would be subject to the ruling.
Posted by: Kristjan Wager
| May 19, 2006 6:48 AM
...but acceeded to the Christian groups' demand for disclaimers (that the movie is fictional!), both at the beginning and the end of the movie...
Sort of like those little notices before and during the radio presentation of "War of the Worlds" back in 1938.
Somehow, I don't expect the same sort of panic-reaction the radio show got.
Posted by: Raging Bee
| May 19, 2006 8:42 AM
I think if you look at the denominations who are outraged by the movie it shows that christians have a wide range of concerns. For example, googling for censorship of Da Vinci in Russia (Orthodox) turns up nothing. Same for Jamaica.
Posted by: Matthew
| May 19, 2006 10:57 AM
For example, googling for censorship of Da Vinci in Russia (Orthodox) turns up nothing.
Doesn't mean much - googling for Brazil censorship Da Vinci in English gets no relevant results - see here. Only a search in Portuguese returns the news story I linked above. You might get results for Russia searching in Russian.
Posted by: Marcelo Greco
| May 19, 2006 12:03 PM
Update: Sony Pictures has declined to include the disclaimers demanded by the Censor Board of India, declaring that,
Precisely!Posted by: therationalfool
| May 19, 2006 11:26 PM