ALERT: Possible spoilers ahead! If you have not read The Da Vinci Code please go out and read it! If anyone would like to borrow a copy, let me know I have one that I am more than happy to loan out.

Warning: My belief system is very odd. Anything I express herein is not necessarily the way I believe, it may be thrown out there simply for conversation....and it could change tomorrow ;)

So, as I'm sure a few of you are aware of, I spent time in Europe this last month. I enjoyed myself and it was a wonderful trip, but I really would not want to live there. While I was on vacation I read two of my favorite novels, The Da Vinci Code, and Angels and Demons . Both of these take place in various parts of Europe and include a few of the cities I visited.

My main intrigue with these novels is my questioning of the Catholic church. When I was in middle school I was reprimanded for refusing to agree with a teacher about Dinosaurs being a conspiracy theory put in the ground by scientists.

I won't go to deeply into the plot, but toward the end it is revealed that Jesus was in fact (this is a novel btw, fiction) married to Mary Magdelane. Not only were they married, but Jesus intended Mary to be the head of the church. Some of the disciples, not fond of this idea, intend to not let this fall to her. Instead it falls to Peter (or he took it, depends on your imagination) and thus Peter became "The Rock" from which the Catholic church is/was built. ie St. Peters Basillica, Vatican City as history dictates he was crucified upside down in rome.

As stated in the book, Constantine held the Council of Nicaea and (I can't find specifics for this part) decided which holidays to celebrate and when to celebrate them. This converted Roman empire to it's first official religion. Within the book (remember, fiction) it is explained that in order for Christian holidays to be celebrated on the same day as Pagan ones it was decided that Jesus would have to be divine. Apparently, up until this point he was regarded simply as a mortal, and a prophet. Someone to build a church after, but not the son of God. Married to Mary Magdelane, AND had a child with her. The author continues by saying that Rome, the center of Catholicism/Christianity, went on a smear campaign and turned Mary Magdalene into a whore. In the process they decided to smear women in general, hence women not being allowed to be priests.....or much of anything important....until recently. They were considered only to be important as far as being a good wife, having children, keeping the house running, etc.

Essentially the book has an incredible cascade of women's importance being wiped out due to Christianity. That before this time men and women were considered opposite sides of the coin, different but equally important. Women were bringers of life, Mother Earth, etc.

With all of this info in mind, I came home and did a little bit of reading myself, specifically looking for the Gospel of Mary (it's disputed as to who "Mary" is in this) and I found some links and found some interesting quotes,

"But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, 'Say what you think concerning what she said. For I do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are of other ideas.'"

"Peter also opposed her in regard to these matters and asked them about the Savior. 'Did he then speak secretly with a woman, in preference to us, and not openly? Are we to turn back and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?'"

Sounds a lil jealous, no? The deeper I dug, the more I got to thinking, "Why the hell couldn't this be true?" None of us were alive when the bible was written. The bible was, afterall, written by man, we are not infallable.

I urge all of you to go out and read the book, I've had many great discussions with people about it and it's always interesting to get other point of views.

Here are some links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Christianity

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/why/legitimization.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Mary_Magdalene

http://www.gnosis.org/library/marygosp.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament_apocrypha

and a site showing that some Christians hate this book, and any discussion it may push

http://www.thetruthaboutdavinci.com/

These are just a few, there's lots of other stuff out there. Have fun with it