The Beeb behaved like a Da Vinci Code villain

james

Interesting article but not entirely honest.
The mysterious workings of Opus have interested the world for a very long time and it was for that reason that Dan Brown used it in his book.
When I first came to Spain more than thirty years ago it was an open secret that Opus Dei was involved in the government and financial system of Spain and behind most of the many dictatorships in South America.
It is said that the reason why it enjoys such autonomy from local religious authority is because of the financial help it has given to the church.
It is also said to be like a sect where people are brainwashed into contributing all their money,living in a community forcibly seperated from their families. There are in fact Catholic orgnaizations which help people whose family members have been'sequestered' in this way by Opus Dei. The internet abounds with these stories and I have personally heard of one here in Spain.
Some of these stories may be fanciful but anyone who has spent time in Spain knows there is little smoke without fire.

Notting Hill Nonsense

I think you give us a good indication of Opus Dei's strange paranoia in your description of its obsessive attempt to get an apology for what was a work of fiction - one that I had never previously heard of.

Dodgy Geezer

Given the BBC decision-making processes so aptly illustrated here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/08/bbc_blog_bully/

I wonder why you didn't get an immediate reversal of all smears?

Chris

Hmm. I don't know what 'fact' is - but the BBC do seem exempt from having to provide any level of neutrality or unbiased reporting in both their 'non-fiction' programmes such as the news(!) and 'fictional' programmes such as drama.

Conspiracies abound, i've never read much about Opus Dei, but isn't the reason why the BBC are free to do as they please because they're actually just a mouthpiece for the government propaganda machine? Maybe the problem lies between the government and Opus Dei rather than with the BBC?!!

John Thomas

Jack - you say the BBC claim to be fair to religious minorities - er, but - remember - not Christian ones (and yes, the Salvation Army would receive bad treatment as well, just like opus Dei). Actually, the documentaries bashing the Salv. Arm. a few years ago encouraged me to support them (well, that may have been Channel 4, but they're both the same). As the government's propoganda mouthpiece, it is a function of the BBC, in our society, to bash Christianity.

Paul Potts

Opus Dei constitutes, among other things, a spy network on local clergy, who have to watch their words in case they are reported. No wonder there are so few of them left.

Paulo

M. A. McClavey

More and more hearsay, James. And as far as your idea that "It is also said to be like a sect where people are brainwashed into contributing all their money,living in a community forcibly seperated from their families.", seems to me that convents and monasteries did exactly that as well in former times. If the member chooses to join up it's his or her choice seems to me, just like joining a religious order. And it makes sense because it is hard to be a religious person in today's society which is rabidly anti-faith and especially anti-Catholic. Funny thing is, the first person to tell me that Opus Dei interrupted family life was herself a nun. It's all in one's point of view I think.