May 22 In Fresno after quite a session in LA; Beliefnet review URL

Well, the tour is about done. I am in Fresno, CA now after speaking to 1200 last night at Shepherd in the Hills near Simi Valley in California. Today there was radio in Phioenix as I was try to check my bags at LAX (quite distracting!) and two hours on the largest California station in the Central California region KMJ.

Well, the tour is about done. I am in Fresno, CA now after speaking to 1200 last night at Shepherd in the Hills near Simi Valley in California. Today there was radio in Phioenix as I was try to check my bags at LAX (quite distracting!) and two hours on the largest California station in the Central California region KMJ. This was a great time of interaction with Ray Appleton. Tonight I speak at Fresno State from 6-9:30PM. Then home after more than two weeks on the road. The movie is doing well at the box office (244 million worldwide and 77 million at home over the weekend). No one should be surprised. Now the real discussions begin. My beliefnet review can be found at: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/191/story_19176_1.html. It was just posted. The movie did tame down some issues. No mention of 80 gospels. Nicea a cameo appearance. 50000 "witches killed versus 5 million. Debate between Langdon and Teabing about Jesus at the start not just acceptance of the remarks. The movie has the feel of fiction about it, more than the book. The review goes into more detail. I have been asked about the ABC Nightline piece. They followed me for the entire week in New York City. The show aired last Tuesday night. It may still be up at www.abcnews.com/nightline. It was a great experience, although having cameras trailing you all the time is a bit unnerving. Martin Bashir did a great job as we spoke for two hours. The entire team at ABC was so professional and really worked hard to be careful about what was said. The theme was to show how I had come out of the classroom as an obscure NT prof to engage on the Code and becoem the "DaVinci Decoder". I really do think that engagement has helped to get the church more prepared to interact over the movie. A tape from Shepherd of the Hills interviewing viewers of the movie taped a young woman who said the movie was fiction but that its ideas needed to be considered seriously. Here is the schizophrenia the movie produces. So more work needs to be done to get the word out.