That comment made by a reader who takes umbrage with a post over at Ankle Biting Pundits titled "Dan Brown is God!" The reader states: "The book is sold as fiction. It's a fun read. Just put your brain on the shelf and enjoy it." And another writes:
My God, sometimes you folks who so often masquarade as evangelicals take yourselves so very seriously it becomes funny -- almost. The guy wrote a pretty good story. A two-bit writer he ain't; "very successful" could be a better description.
It's comments like those that make some of the Deists and libertarians cringe, feel our skin crawl and often lose our collective cookies.
My wife's a non-watermelon college professor with a Ph.D. in Business -- she thought it was a pretty good book. I may read it after re-reading Pete Hamill's "Snow in August", John Irving's "Son Of The Circus" and Dan Jenkins' "Baja, Oklahoma".
But, seriously -- condescending and sanctimonious comments like those are flat-out SCARY
Scary? How so? After all, numerous (millions?) of readers agree with Brown's claims about Jesus, Catholicism, and Leonardo da Vinci, or at least think those claims should be taken seriously. As does Brown himself. Once again, see my article, "The 'It's Just Fiction!' Doctrine," which explains why putting your brain on the shelf (as even some Catholics seem to be doing) might be fine for fans of the Coded Craziness, but really isn't a good option for people serious about the power of fiction (yes, even rotten, popular fiction) and the importance of truth.