Members of local Christian groups and local Christian celebrities meet yesterday at the Church of Christ in Thailand office in Pathum Wan district to voice their opposition to the movie ‘The Da Vinci Code’.

The decision by the Registration Division, which comes under the Police Department, was reached after a two-hour meeting at the division between officials from four Christian groups, a censorship committee under the division and officials from Columbia Pictures, which produced the film.

Chawana Phawakanant, a member of the censorship panel, said the final scenes in the film would be cut because they would have affected the faith of Christians. The panel also made a ruling on a number of conditions needed to be complied with by Columbia Pictures.

"A portion of the Thai subtitles deemed inappropriate would also be re-edited and there will be an explanation in Thai put on screen before the film begins telling viewers that the film is based on fiction," said Chawana, an academic in the mass journalism field.

The officials from Columbia Pictures did not make any comments yesterday but both they and Sony Pictures, which is distributing the film in Thailand, will make a joint statement today on the 10-minute cut decision.

Columbia Pictures can submit an appeal to the Registration Division if it doesn't agree with the panel's ruling.

Manoch Jaengmuk, chairman of the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand, said certain scriptures in the Bible would also be displayed on screen both before the film begins and at the end.

The Christian groups will decide soon which scriptures will be chosen for the special screening.

Manoch said that a group of foreigners and Thais who had been influenced by Dan Brown's best-selling book had attempted to register a new Christian sect in Thailand after the book was published, but their request was turned down by the authorities.

"I won't give you the name of the new sect," he said.

A separate meeting of Christian celebrities was held at the Church of Christ in Thailand office at Hua Chang Bridge in Bangkok to discuss the matter, before issuing a statement that both the film and the book of the same title deliberately insulted Christ.

Popular singer Cheewin "Boyd" Kosiyabongse said he believed that anyone who had never had the "Jesus experience" would be easily convinced by the inaccurate content in the film.

"I wouldn't watch the film myself. It feels like someone is insulting my father. I see no reason to view it," he said.

Worrayut Kijbamrung, of the Catholic Social Communications of Thailand, said the film violated Jesus Christ and was against Christian teachings.

"Many scenes contain content that is inappropriate and slanderous against the Prophet of Christianity," he said.

He said that certain references to Jesus in many scenes needed to be altered, as well as other content that could mislead viewers in their perception of Christianity.

However, Worrayut expressed sympathy for Columbia Pictures and said he welcomed the company's receptive attitude towards local Christian groups.

He said he personally thought that the film had utilised a successful recipe in mixing imaginary plots with facts.

"This is a new trend, and it

could well draw a good response," he said.