New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS) One of the big problems with
every religion today is that scriptures are treated as facts, said
celebrated author Dan Brown Monday, adding if everyone reads them as
myths and metaphors, then many social issues will cease to exist.
The
American author, best known for "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and
Demons" was delivering the 2014 Penguin Annual Lecture on the topic
"Code, Science and Religion" at the Siri Fort Auditorium where the
audience turnout was massive, underscoring at the 50-year-old thriller
writer's major fan following in India.
"You are supposed to look
at scriptures and don't read them as history or as a fact, but as myths,
as an analogy and metaphor," said Brown.
"One of the big
problems, I think, with all religions today is that we give so much
importance to looking into our scripts and metaphorsaand say this is
fact and if you don't believe it, we say you have got a problem," he
added.
Admitting he was shocked with the level of controversies
and backlash, "The Da Vinci Code" had generated among the Christian
institutions, Brown said the hypothetical question he had risen in the
fictional tale "meant more sense to him on a personal level".
The
author, after the novel was released in 2003, was accused of
misrepresenting core aspects of Christianity and the history of the
Roman Catholic Church. However, he said the difference in religion
arises when we start using language.
"All our world religions are
formed on one basic truth: kindness is better than cruelty, creation
better than destruction, and love is better than hate. When I look at
the world around us, I feel that human species need to reach out to a
point to abandon language and semantics for a better world," he said.
Having
being born in a family where two extreme exists: his mother a devoted
believer in faith and his father an observer of science, Brown admitted
he chose to look at the scriptures through the prism of science and
objectivity.
"Science and religion are partners. They are two
different languages attempting to tell two different stories. Both serve
the quest to understand the divine," he added.
Throughout this
lecture, Brown entertained the audience with his quick wit and personal
anecdotes and showed them the first ever story book he had authored at
the age of 5, with the help of his mother.
He revealed license
plates of his mother's and father's cars that read "Kyriea (meaning God
in Greek) and "Metric" respectively, pointed at their independent
stances towards religion and science.