I have always wanted to be a writer, but I remember cynically proclaiming in high school that I'd probably end up in advertising. This is why I have avoided, until now, typing the ‘DVC' phrase on the blog. I never want to give anything I don't support any kind of press. Even bad press is still press.

Now, however, the time has come. We will talk about The Da Vinci Code because what may or may not surprise you is the way the movie industry tail has been wagging the religious dog.

According to The New Yorker, in a May 22 story about The Da Vinci Code movie, all the hype with anti-code books, articles, discussion groups and sermon series was simply a part of the marketing plan put together by church-savvy Sony professionals.

Hmmm. If only we could use our power for good and not evil. Are evangelicals now seen only as a voting bloc or a target audience for a movie?

The biggest irony is that the most anti-Christian film of the decade may be seen by more Christians than anyone else.

Barbara Nicolosi, a screenwriter and an influential Christian blogger, says believers have been duped by a publicity machine that capitalized on their faith. The New Yorker quotes her blog, where she writes:

"There is no discussion. What there is, is a few P.R. folks in Hollywood taking mondo big bucks from Sony Pictures, to deliver legions of well-meaning Christians into subsidizing a movie that makes their own Savior out to be a sham."

Christianity Today also ran her editorial. Of course, they ran dozens of other articles and ads aimed at engaging believers in the book, the movie, the ideas presented by the code stuff. Other Christian publications did so as well. Scores of books refuting Da Vinci Code were released by Christian publishers.

So Nicolosi may be right, that the Sony PR machine essentially duped Christians into promoting a heresy of their own faith. But something else happened, too.

First, all those Christian articles and books generated lots of money for their authors and houses. So maybe the duping was a "right back atcha" with the sort of tag-along publicity that many big sellers generate.

Secondly, the hype, no matter where it started, has also become something other than an enemy for Christians and turned instead into a more healthy view of our place in the world. Instead of a boycott or protest, Christians are now more interested in engaging in the culture they oppose. However, this means believers must pull out their serpentine wisdom and mete out the choices now facing them. They must ask tough questions, such as: Is it worth promoting heresy—even for the sake of evangelism?

I tend to side with Nicolosi on that one. I think a sermon series on the divinity of Christ or the historicity of the Gospels would be more compelling to a Code crowd.

Something else to consider is that all the hype about Passion of the Christ left very few converts in its wake. Probably the hype about Da Vinci will leave few heretics. I hope so, anyway. And I'm not saying another word about it.

(You can, though.) Blog here.