A "Da Vinci Code" Disclaimer?

This morning there was an interesting debate on "The Today Show" regarding the film version of one of the best selling novels of all-time, "The Da Vinci Code."

The debate: Should there be a disclaimer attached to "The Da Vinci Code" movie advertisements noting that the story behind the movie is a work of fiction?

According to what I saw on "The Today Show," members of The Catholic league are working to get such a disclaimer attached to the film. The representative of The Catholic League that appeared on "The Today Show" says that although Dan Brown states several "facts" at the beginning of his book, that they are actually fiction -- lies basically. He went on to say that viewers need to know the truth (that the story is a work of fiction) and need not be decieved by this film. The book and film claim that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and that she bore Jesus' child and that the Catholic Church strategically covered this secret to save face.

The idea of having to attach a disclaimer to this film asserting that it is indeed fiction is ridiculous. And frankly, I do not think it is justified as far as Ron Howard's (the films' director) constitutional freedoms are concerned.

Further, what about those who don't believe the story of Jesus in Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" is true -- wouldn't there need to be a disclaimer on that film proclaiming its story fiction, for those people? This is only one example of many movies I can think of.

Also, it's well known that not all of what is written in "The Da Vinci Code" is true. A story is a story and it can have bits of fact, bits of fiction, and bits of nonsense. The book is located in the "Fiction" section of book stores for goodness sake. Isn't that enough? Also, as one of the debators said on "The Today Show," if a person is really interested in historical facts then they should know that sitting in a theater for two hours probably isn't going to get them very far. That is what libraries are for and what researching is for. If they'd rather get their facts from a movie, then to each his own.

To end this, I find it kind of amusing that in "The Da Vinci Code," the Catholic Church is desperately trying to cover up an ancient old secret that they believe could result in the fall of their church if the secret was ever to be known. Here, today, with certain members trying to get a "disclaimer" attached to the film, it almost seems as if that same sort of desperate anxiety is present, fearing that this film is going to destroy their church. Well, whatever happened to that simple, yet powerful thing called "faith" in God?