TOM Hanks has been many things in his glittering film career.

An Apollo 13 astronaut; a gay lawyer afflicted with aids; a Hicksville everyman; even a desert island castaway.

Now, however, he's taken on his biggest role of all: as the man who uncovers a shocking truth about Christianity - that Christ didn't die on the cross, but instead married and had children whose bloodline continues to this day.

Yes, the Da Vinci Code hits the big screen this weekend. While some Christians hate the Dan Brown novel on which the film is based, others welcome the chance the film offers for debate.

In the film, Hanks plays Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist who uncovers the mystery behind The Da Vinci paintings to find an historical religious secret.

Together with Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou) he tries to crack the code, unearth the truth and discover whether Christ had a child.

But is the film a harmless story retelling an age-old conspiracy theory, or harmful literature misleading people about Christianity?

Canon John Young, whose classic book The Case Against Christ, co-written with David Atkinson, has been updated to include a chapter on The Da Vinci Code, admits the book is an enjoyable read - as long as you treat it as fiction, not fact.

"It's a real page-turner, and Dan Brown keeps several sub plots bubbling at the same time," he says. "It was a shrewd move of the author to begin his book with a page claiming three facts. It certainly added to the intrigue, the apparent authority - and the sales figures. Here is a fourth fact. Dan Brown describes his book as a novel. In other words, it is a work of fiction - a product of a clever, imaginative writer."

As such, Canon Young says, the book yields no reliable information about Jesus, the Bible or the church.

"If you want reliable information about Jesus, you are much wiser to turn to St Mark's Gospel in the New Testament," he says. "If you want to know what the church is really about, you'd be wiser to turn up at the one just around the corner from where you live, any Sunday at around 10am."

But Canon Young says he's grateful to Dan Brown. His book - and the forthcoming film - has "given us a lot of fun and has stirred up discussion about Christianity".

Christian Selvaratnam, a director of the popular Alpha courses, agrees - and believes The Da Vinci Code is the best opportunity the church has had in the last decade.

"As a Christian, I think it's absolutely brilliant for throwing up questions we really should be asking, such as: Who is Jesus? Is the Bible reliable? And does it matter?" he said.

That doesn't mean he thinks the novel is an accurate version of events.

He said: "I don't think the facts are accurate, although he asks some very interesting questions that I really enjoy thinking about. and I know other people are very stirred by. Perhaps people who haven't studied history or biblical documents before might read it for the first time and be very persuaded by what they're reading.

"But all his books are based on conspiracy theories, and if you read the others you might also believe there are aliens in Antarctica and the American Government can tap inside everyone's computers."

Graham Taylor, the former North Yorkshire vicar turned best-selling author of Shadowmancer, says he too enjoyed The Da Vinci Code - as a fantastic work of fiction.

"It's as big a fantasy as the books I write, if not more so," he says. "It's a story that's been about for a very long time and it's not worth getting hot under the collar about. The only thing that annoys me is that Dan beat me to the author of the year."

However, he doesn't think the book is helpful in promoting greater understanding of Christianity.

"It's damaging because it confuses people," he says. "Jesus did not have any children. It is very clear he was living the life of a celibate. It makes a good yarn, but then again, so does James Bond."

Exorcist and former East Riding vicar Tom Willis admits he avoided reading The Da Vinci Code because of negative publicity.

"People like to make legends out of the past, and every now and again you will get someone who tries to make a lot of money out of it and when it's closely examined turns out to be a lot of rubbish," he says.

Meanwhile, Roy Stevens, New Earswick poet and "agnostic humanist", says the most important question is whether Christ's sacrifice was justified.

He doesn't know whether The Da Vinci Code's claims are true or not.

"I hope that Christ had a child and I hope he enjoyed a normal sex life, but I'm not really that bothered as to whether Mary had a baby. I think it brings up bigger questions, like whether Christ survived. If he died, was the sacrifice worth it?

"I'm not sure we're worth saving because the world is a dreadful place. Everything from the animal kingdom up preys on each other, and we're the worst of the lot with our wars. That's the big question for me behind The Da Vinci Code."

Cracking Dan Brown's code... the plot

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives a late-night phone call to tell him the Louvre's elderly curate has been murdered inside the museum.

A baffling cipher was left by his body and Robert, together with cryptographer Sophie Neveu, quickly tries to unravel the riddle. Their quest leads them towards clues hidden in the Da Vinci paintings and a religious mystery protected for 2,000 years.

The pair discover the curator's involvement in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Da Vinci.

They discover he sacrificed his life to protect the Priory's most sacred trust: the location of an important religious relic.

In a breathless race through Paris, London and history itself, they become both suspects and detectives as they try and decipher the labyrinthine

puzzle before the truth is lost forever.

Updated: 11:05 Monday, May 15, 2006