Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is a wildly popular book and many people believe that much of what the book says is true, even though it is classified as a work of fiction. This is unfortunate because there is very little fact and a great deal of fiction in the story - something that even Christian apologists recognize.

According to Answers.org:

“Is this not a work of fiction? Why worry about a few misplaced facts?” I’ll tell you why. While waiting in line to purchase The DaVinci Code at the local Borders bookstore, I scanned a primary chapter of concern, having been informed by Bob Passantino of its historically inaccurate content. A woman behind me spoke up: “Oh! That’s a great book!” I looked back at her. “Not really,” I replied shortly. “It’s full of poor scholarship.” The woman was shocked. ...[M]ost people are not equipped to filter fact from fiction and they will absorb as truth whatever someone says is true.

Of course, a similar criticism could be made about many apologetical works...

Brown opens his novel with the words “FACT” in bold, capital letters and this statement: "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."

On the television special, Brown confesses that he “became a believer” in the theories that he weaves throughout The DaVinci Code after allegedly trying to disprove them. This lends further credence to unsuspecting readers who aren’t equipped to question the facts the world presents to them.

Thus, the inaccuracies in Brown's book are relevant because he portrays the background history as if they were facts. Moreover, he seems to believe all of the conspiracy theories himself.

Now, read the next bit while keeping in mind that Answers.org is an evangelical Christian apologetics site:

Teabing [a character who is described as a reputable historian] goes on with more specific claims: “Jesus Christ was a historical figure of staggering influence, perhaps the most enigmatic and inspirational leader the world has ever seen….Understandably, His life was recorded by thousands of followers across the land….More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John among them…The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great.”11

Was Jesus a figure of “staggering influence” about whom “thousands of followers” wrote? The answers to these questions is, “No, not exactly,” and “No, not that the evidence would allow.”

Jesus became a figure of “staggering influence” only AFTER the Christian church became a prominent force. As far as the historians of the day were concerned, Jesus was just a "blip" on the screen. Jesus was not considered to be historically significant by historians of his time. He did not address the Roman Senate, or write extensive Greek philosophical treatises; He never traveled outside of the regions of Palestine, and was not a member of any known political party. It is only because Christians later made Jesus a "celebrity" that He became known. Historian E. P. Sanders, comparing Jesus to Alexander the Great, notes that the latter "so greatly altered the political situation in a large part of the world that the main outline of his public life is very well known indeed. Jesus did not change the social, political and economic circumstances in Palestine...

Even devout evangelicals think that some of Browns positive statements concerning Jesus are absurd. So why do people believe it? There are a couple of factors at work here, I think. For one thing many Americans are conditioned to believe just about anything they hear from what they think are authorities in religion. Second, conspiracy theories are very popular. Taken together, almost anything dealing with religious conspiracy theories tend to be taken almost at face value. It's not all that surprising, really.

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