Angels and Scientists

The release of a Da Vinci Code franchise always unleashes a flurry of debunking. Is there really an Illuminati? Can you really do that with a particle collider? According to an excellent essay by Dennis Overbye, director Ron Howard is well aware that the quasi-believability of author Dan Brown’s fictions are part of what gives them their appeal. Says Howard of Brown, “He doesn’t invent things, he creates suppositions.” But in Angels and Demons, the fight between religion and science is integral to the movie’s plot.  And it’s the diametrically-opposed characterization of the two that Overbye has a problem with.  Science is smart, but religion is wise.  Religion is inviting, science is close-minded.  (For an interesting refutation of this, watch this.) He articulates a third path, science with its own forms of wisdom.  The Mythographer is all about the third path.