Umberto Eco on the "silly sub-Christian superstitions" of the Da Vinci Code

Umberto Eco was raised Catholic and abandoned his faith as an adult, but he has not, as Karl Keating notes, abandoned common sense. The following from Umberto Eco:

"We are supposed to live in a skeptical age. In fact, we live in an age of outrageous credulity. The 'death of God,' or at least the dying of the Christian God, has been accompanied by the birth of a plethora of new idols. They have multiplied like bacteria on the corpse of the Christian Church--from strange pagan cults and sects to the silly, sub-Christian superstitions of 'The Da Vinci Code.'

"It is amazing how many people take that book literally and think it is true. Admittedly, Dan Brown, its author, has created a legion of zealous followers who believe that Jesus wasn't crucified: He married Mary Magdalene, became the King of France, and started his own version of the order of Freemasons. Many of the people who now go to the Louvre are there only to look at the Mona Lisa, solely and simply because it is at the center of Dan Brown's book."

[Hat tip to Karl Keating, E-Letter of April 25, 2006]