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Da Vinci Code mentality and the Nazis

Insight Scoop has put up a post on the types of people who are most likely to believe the conspiracy theories in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code novel. They are typically irreligious, New Agey types who feel the most anxiety about dying.
The students most likely to believe the conspiracies in Brown's novel were those who enjoyed the book the most, expressed the most New Age beliefs, and felt the most anxiety about dying. People who were religious, knowledgeable about the Bible and desiring of social approval, on the other hand, tended not to buy into the Da Vinci conspiracy.

Before I reconverted, I was a New Agey type, but I wasn't afraid of dying, so maybe that's why Dan Brown's books never attracted me.  In my early 20's I read The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail on which the Da Vinci Code is supposedly based, but I never found it totally convincing.  However, I have come across a number of people that think what is in that book and the Da Vinci Code is absolutely true.

Next, the researchers called 50 of the original students back and presented them with historical evidence that the Da Vinci conspiracy is false. They found that among the most religious participants, this counterevidence lessened the belief in the conspiracy. Nonreligious participants, however, did not budge.

I wonder if by "nonreligious" they  include those sorts of people who don't belong to a specific religious group. Maybe a type of renegade believer who just thinks they need a book and no one else. I suppose I could buy the survey and find out.

But the real point of this post, before I get into the next bit, is to show a real study where a certain type of participant is so completely set in their view for whatever reason that they will not change their mind when evidence is presented to them.

Aha! some of you may pounce at this point and say that I am one of those, except for coming from a completely religious angle. In my defence, I have to say that I have explored a lot of different things in my life (I read very widely) and experimented, and also had children, and have a highly developed sense of logic and ability to see patterns and got to the point where I thought that nothing made sense any more, except for the Catholic Church being true. Ask and you shall find, I asked, I searched, I suspended judgement and I found. And then once I gave my assent, I experienced miracles. Not just one or two, but many, many miracles. Though, I think the miracles were a reward, not a means to make me believe.

Now, for the point. 

The New-York based Pave the Way Foundation said that its representative Michael Hesemann found a large series of documents from 1930 to 1933.

The documents indicate that any Catholic who joined the Nazi party, wore the uniform or flew the swastika flag would no longer be able to receive the sacraments.

A great number of words have been written on the internet and in books on how the Nazis were never excommunicated. However, their actions at the very least automatically excommunicated them. This is not enough for the die hard anti-Catholics* who believe absolutely that the Catholic Church is evil incarnate and supported one of the most evil regimes of the last century.And now from last year, we have an article showing that documents have been found in the archives that Nazis were excommunicated by the Church as early as 1930.

Will this information that directly contradicts what is common knowledge amongst change the anti-Catholic's mind?  Not holding my breath ...


Related links: Study reveals many "Da Vinci Code" fans are irrational, illogical, and scared of death ~ Insight Scoop
Archives Show Church Excommunicated Nazis ~ Zenit

* See specifically the comments from Nemesis and Kris K.

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