The American movie The Da Vinci Code, set to be released simultaneously around the globe next month, is under attack from a conservative Korean Christian organization. As part of its campaign against the film, Christian Council of Korea last week petitioned a court to have it banned from public screening and is letting it be known that if its case is rejected it is ready to use physical strength to fight the movie with a boycott campaign and street protests. Grand National Party (GNP) chairwoman Park Geun Hye has added her voice to the situation, saying she will "look into whether there is a way to regulate (the film's screening) by law."
Christianity is not the only religion to be involved in controversy in or to oppose works of artistic nature. Buddhists and Muslims, too, occasionally try to block the viewing of artistic works that are satire of objects of worship challenge orthodox thinking. Examples where religion and freedom of expression collided would be the problems faced by director Im Kwon Taek's "Biguni" and the fierce protests by Muslims against the "Mohammed cartoons."
It will be up to the courts to decide which is more important; freedom of expression or preventing what certain religious individuals consider blasphemy. In the meantime, however, the hard-line approach to works of art – such as the petition to have The Da Vinci Code banned – is inconsistent not only with the ideals of freedom of expression, but also of love and tolerance, which are religious virtues. It is unfortunate that the religious community is not more mature.
The reason the novel The Da Vinci Code was of interest to general readers is that it is interesting, but also because it directly confronts the sexual discrimination that has long existed within Christianity, and not so much because of the heretical suggestion that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene. The Korean National Council of Churches, our country's oldest umbrella church organization, says it would be "more becoming of churches" to "accept The Da Vinci Code as fiction and tolerate, with a sense of confidence, the realm of imagination and the freedom of expression." Is that not a better approach?
The Hankyoreh, 11 April 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Opposing Da Vinci Code and Freedom of Expression |
