Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Type: Mystery
Published Year: 2009
<aside> <img src="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/01a5f38c-0e71-4994-8772-b580b5ec8753/4929a8a6-c1e5-499e-beb1-502d579d8205/Bible_(1).png" alt="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/01a5f38c-0e71-4994-8772-b580b5ec8753/4929a8a6-c1e5-499e-beb1-502d579d8205/Bible_(1).png" width="40px" /> I started to read this fiction on May 18, 2020. At that time, the US had been in the pandemic of COVID-19 for about two months. I stayed at UIndy’s student dormitory, and waited for the end of pandemic. The reading of this fiction ended on July 12, 2020, and I shared it with my friends in Chi Alpha. We discussed on the science and the religion, we prayed, and we waited together. No one at that time could realized that COVID-19 would remain for so long time.
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Since the beginning of time, spirituality and religion have been called on to fill in the gaps that science did not understand. —— said by Maximilian Kohler (Chapter 8)
He [Galileo] held that science and religion were not enemies, but rather allies — two different language telling the same story, a story of symmetry and balance… heaven and hell, night and day, hot and cold, God and Satan. —— said by Robert Langdon (Chapter 9)
The church may not be burning scientists at the stake anymore, but if you think they’ve released their reign over science, ask yourself why half the schools in your country [the US] are not allowed to teach evolution. —— said by Maximilian Kohler (Chapter 13)
Having faith requires leaps of faith, cerebral acceptance of miracles — immaculate conceptions and divine interventions. And then there are the codes of conduct. The Bible, the Koran, Buddhist scripture… they all carry similar requirements — and similar penalties. They claim that if I don’t live by a specific code I will go to hell. I can’t imagine a God who would rule that way.
—— said by Robert Langdon (Chapter 31)
Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary. Some of us pray to Jesus, some of us go to Mecca, some of us study subatomic particles. In the end we are all just searching for truth, that which is greater than ourselves. —— said by Vittoria Vetra (Chapter 31)
“Terrorism,” the professor had lectured, “has a singular goal. What is it?” “Killing innocent people?” a student ventured. “Incorrect. Death is only a byproduct of terrorism.” “A show of strength?” “No. A weaker persuasion does not exist.” “To cause terror?” “Concisely put. Quite simply, the goal of terrorism is to create terror and fear. Fear undermines faith in the establishment. It weakens the enemy from within… causing unrest in the masses. Write this down. Terrorism is not an expression of rage. Terrorism is a political weapon…”
After the camerlengo knew that 3 of 4 kidnapped cardinals had been killed in several cruel ways in public, he invited two BBC reporters to Sistine Chapel where the election of new Pope was forced to stop. And what he said to the whole world through BBC camera was as follow:
“Science may have alleviated the miseries of disease and drudgery and provided an array of gadgetry for our entertainment and convenience, but it has left us in a world without wonder. Our sunsets have been reduced to wavelengths and frequencies. The complexities of the universe have been shredded into mathematical equations. Even our self-worth as human beings has been destroyed. Science proclaims that Planet Earth and its inhabitants are a meaningless speck in the grand scheme. A cosmic accident.” “Even the technology that promises to unite us, divides us. Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone. We are bombarded with violence, division, fracture, and betrayal. Skepticism has become a virtue. Cynicism and demand for proof has become enlightened thought. Is it any wonder that humans now feel more depressed and defeated than they have at any point in human history? Does science hold anything sacred? Science looks for answers by probing our unborn fetuses. Science even presumes to rearrange our own DNA. It shatters God’s world into smaller and smaller pieces in quest of meaning… and all it finds is more questions.” “The ancient war between science and religion is over… You have won. But you have not won fairly. You have not won by providing answers. You have won by so radically reorienting our society that the truths we once saw as signposts now seem inapplicable.” “Science, you say, will save us. Science, I say, has destroyed us. Since the days of Galileo, the church has tried to slow the relentless march of science, sometimes with misguided means, but always with benevolent intention. Even so, the temptations are too great for man to resist. I warn you, look around yourselves. The promises of science have not been kept. Promises of efficiency and simplicity have bred nothing but pollution and chaos. We are a fractured and frantic species… moving down a path of destruction.” “Who is this God science? Who is the God who offers his people power but no moral framework to tell you how to use that power? What kind of God gives a child fire but does not warn the child of its dangers? The language of science comes with no signposts about good and bad. Science textbooks tell us how to create a nuclear reaction, and yet they contain no chapter asking us if it is a good or a bad idea. To science, I say this. The church is tired.” “We ask not why you will not govern yourselves, but how can you? Your world moves so fast that if you stop even for an instant to consider the implications of your actions, someone more efficient will whip past you in a blur. So you move on. You proliferate weapons of mass destruction, but it is the Pope who travels the world beseeching leaders to use restraint. You clone living creatures, but it is the church reminding us to consider the moral implications of our actions. You encourage people to interact on phones, video screens, and computers, but it is the church who opens its doors and reminds us to commune in person as we were meant to do. You even murder unborn babies in the name of research that will save lives. Again, it is the church who points out the fallacy of this reasoning.” “And all the while, you proclaim the church is ignorant. But who is more ignorant? The man who cannot define lightning, or the man who does not respect its awesome power? This church is reaching out to you. Reaching out to everyone. And yet the more we reach, the more you push us away. Show me proof there is a God, you say. I say use your telescopes to look to the heavens, and tell me how there could not be a God!” “Religion is flawed, but only because man is flawed. If the outside world could see this church as I do… looking beyond the ritual of these walls… they would see a modern miracle… a brotherhood of imperfect, simple souls wanting only to be a voice of compassion in a world spinning out of control.”
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