Jordan: Ban Da Vinci Code

2006-05-06 19:24

Amman - The head of the Jordanian council of churches has called for The Da Vinci Code to be banned from cinemas in Jordan.

According to a Saturday report by state news agency Petra, the council's secretary general, Archbishop Hanna Nour, said the film "harms the image of Christ".

The book The Da Vinci Code, written by American author Dan Brown, is banned in Jordan.

Nour said: "It harms Christian and Muslim religious symbols by calling into question what is written in the gospels and the Koran on the personality of Christ."

The film is scheduled for global release on May 19.

It explores the idea that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene, had children, and that their descendants have survived to the present day.

The book - and subsequent movie - depicts a conservative Roman Catholic order, the Opus Dei, as involved in a dark plot to avoid discovery of Jesus' descendants.

The director of Jordan's audiovisual authority, Mohammed Shawabkeh, said there was a "good chance the film will be banned because of the negative reactions it is likely to provoke among Christians in Jordan".

Last week, an aide to Pope Benedict XVI called on the public to shun the movie, describing the novel as perversely anti-Christian.

- AFP