‘Da Vinci’ sparks global scrutiny

China’s official Catholic Church urged its followers to boycott “The Da Vinci Code” on Thursday. The city council in the Philippine capital banned the movie. The Indian censor board cleared the movie without any cuts, but required a disclaimer and insisted that it be shown to adults only.

The film, based on the bestselling Dan Brown novel, wasn’t expected to generate a wide backlash in Asia, where Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam are the dominant faiths. But many Christians have expressed outrage at the movie’s theory that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had offspring, and that the Vatican and conservative Catholic group Opus Dei tried to cover it up.

The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Assn., which isn’t governed by the Vatican, accused the film’s makers of “violating religious ethics and morals and insulting the feelings of clergy and followers,” the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. The church urged the country’s more than 10 million faithful to avoid it.

However, China’s officially atheistic communist government hasn’t banned the movie. Normally strict censors cleared the film without any cuts.

But in the Philippines -- with Asia’s biggest Christian population -- the Manila City Council passed a resolution banning the movie, effective today. The movie “is undoubtedly offensive and contrary to established religious beliefs which cannot take precedence over the right of the persons involved in the film to freedom of expression,” the resolution said.

Elsewhere, an Athens court ruled Thursday that Greek movie theaters can show “The Da Vinci Code,” rejecting a lawsuit by Greek Orthodox groups demanding the film be banned for containing alleged blasphemy.