If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Prop ‘Em Up

Emboldened by several years of electoral and judicial victories, religious conservatives in the U.S. have become extremely vocal when they spot a Hollywood project that a) they don’t like, or b) is aimed squarely at religious audiences but fails to pander in just the right way. As a result, the major studios have become a bit nervous when releasing any film with vaguely religious or sectarian overtones. So what are the producers of the new film version of The DaVinci Code doing to stay out front of what will surely be a wave of religious right-generated negativity? Why, they’re providing the soapbox, of course.