The Catholic Church is awfully thin skinned about their militant history even though their recent past seems to contain none of the the horrific stuff that got them to power. I certainly have issues with many of their political and religious positions but I don't see cross-bearing armies invading my neighborhood anytime soon.

When I hear tell of a book that creates an evil entity like the Magisterium I don't envision the "business" of the Vatican today. I see that the author is attacking the era of the Inquisition or the excesses of the Crusades. The church even railed against Harry Potter again the other day and of course they had their say about all the Dan Brown books.

All this points to some real defensiveness that I think is self-defeating. The public today seems to be in the mood for a big dose of humility on the part of organizations and individuals and is extremely forgiving if these entities show a bit of atonement. If they disagree with the message of books or movies they're best to laugh about them or just shut up. I think all their attacks simply end up promoting the item they're attacking.

Art