Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries

For the record from ZENIT:

Inside Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries

By Carrie Gress

NEW YORK, DEC. 4, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Truth is always more interesting than fiction, say the authors of "Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries."

In this interview with ZENIT, authors Stephen Klimczuk and Gerald Warner discuss debunking the falsehoods in "The Da Vinci Code" and their survey of the authentic mysteries that span the globe.

Q: What was the inspiration for writing this book?

Klimczuk: Having watched the explosion of interest worldwide in gnosticism, "alternative history," secret societies, the occult, Templar myths, conspiracy theories, government cover-ups, UFOs and the like, we felt there was an urgent need for someone to step forward and set the record straight across a wide spectrum of subjects that are actually fundamentally related on some level.

What started gradually some two decades ago with the New Age movement and such precursors to Dan Brown's books as "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" (with its bogus claims of "proof" that Christ married and left descendants) has since become a global multi-billion dollar industry and a substitute for religion for tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people.

We thought that the right kind of compendium could provide a robust and skeptical debunking of esoteric nonsense, while highlighting potentially authentic mysteries of genuine interest -- on the principle that truth is actually more interesting, satisfying, and even entertaining than falsehood.

According to one poll, some 6 million people in Britain believe that Dan Brown's books are true. This seems to be a particularly fertile time for quacks, frauds and false prophets..More>>