Religion, The Matrix, and The Holy Grail

It is kind of strange. Lately I've been on a Dan Brown kick, reading such novels as The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. I also read Digital Fortress but that does not have much to do with this entry. Dan Brown's main character, Robert Langdon, is a symbology professor at Harvard. In each novel he is required to interpret documents, symbols, and clues to help a cause. These two novels deal with Opus Dei and The Illuminati. Brown does some "moralizing" about religion in each novel. Here is an excerpt from Angels and Demons:

.."For centuries," the camerlengo said, "the church has stood by while science picked away at religion bit by bit. Debunking miracles. Training the mind to overcome the heart. Condemning religion as the opiate of the masses. They denounce God as a hallucination--a delusional crutch for those too weak to accept life is meaningless. I could not stand by while science presumed to harness the power of God himself! Proof, you say? Yes, proof of science's ignorance! What is wrong with the admission that something exists beyond our understanding? The day science substantiates God in a lab is the day people stop needing faith!"

"You mean the day they stop needing the church," Vittoria challenged, moving toward him. "Doubt is your last shred of control. It is doubt that brings souls to you. Our need to know that life has meaning. Man's insecurity and need for an enlightened soul assuring him everything is part of master plan. But the church is not the only enlightened soul on the planet! We all seek God in different ways. What are you afraid of? That God will show himself somewhere other than inside these walls? That people will find him in their own lives and leave your antiquated rituals behind? Religions evolve! The mind finds answers, the heart grapples with new truths. My father was on your quest! A parallel path! Why couldn't you see that? God is not some omnipotent authority looking down from above, threatening to throw us into a pit of fire if we disobey. God is the energy that flows through synapses of our nervous system and the chambers of our hearts! God is in all things!"

"Except science," the camerlengo fired back, his eyes showing only pity. "Science, by definition, is soulless. Divorced from the heart. Intellectual miracles like antimatter arrive in this world with no ethical instructions attached. That in itself is perilous! But when science heralds its Godless pursuits as the enlightened path? Promising answers to questions whose beauty is that they have no answers?" He shook his head. "No." ...

And The Matrix is chock full of religious symbols and overtones. From Neo ("new", anagram of "one", akin to Adam) and Morpheus (god of sleep) and Trinity (need there be an explanation?) to the name of the ship. There is an interesting essay regarding the symbols and philosophy behind The Matrix.

I have also been reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail. This book questions what the Holy Grail is, and traces the various legends and stories regarding the Grail, it's protectors (the Knights of Templar and the Priory of Sion) that factor heavily into The Da Vinci Code.

Religious and science are not the antithesis of each other. That much is abundantly clear. Else there would be no Catholic/Christian men/women in science. I have always favored the idea of God as a watchmaker. He set the rules, formed the world, gave man his freedom and let us make our own mistakes. He is omnipotent and omnipresent but he is distant. Using science we search for answers. Each new discovery is met with wonder and excitement. We marvel at nature, at its ability to create so many varied and distinct things from simple building blocks. We call birth, the miracle of life. For me, the Bible is an allegory, written by imperfect men, trying to understand and record things.

God is all around us...and inside of us. After all, he made us in his own image. So God must have a scientific, inquisitive mind as well. After all, he designed the perfect experiment.

Now apart from the weighty matters. Here are my new stuffed animals collected from The Disney Store.