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#1 {lang:macro__useroffline}   Neraphym {lang:icon}

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Posted 25 April 2006 - 12:40 AM

Chris Ray
April 26, 2006
English 12, Period 7

A Summary of Angels and Demons

Recently I have had the wonderful pleasure of reading the book, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code. Angels and Demons is set in modern times, and makes many references to institutions that exist in our reality. Chronologically, Angels and Demons is thought to have taken place prior to the events in The Da Vinci Code. Angels and Demons is a wonderful story of action, suspense, deception and intrigue.

The story of Angels and Demons revolves around the sudden and unexpected adventure of Robert Langdon, a professor of Symbology at Harvard University. Langdon is considered to be an authority on the subject of symbols, religions, and secret societies, most notably, the Illuminati. The Illuminati was a secret society that promoted science above religion. Illuminati means 'enlightened', and they were made up entirely of scientist and free-thinkers highly opposed to the oppresive, anti-scientific Catholic Church. Many members of the Illuminati sought to use violent means to overthrow the Catholic Chruch and implement science as the true path to enlightenment.

Angels and Demons begins when a mercenary supposedly working for the Illuminati sneaks into an elite scientific research community known as CERN and steals a canister of the newly discovered antimatter. Antimatter is different from matter in that the locations of the protons and the electrons are reversed. When antimatter makes physical contact with matter, an anihilation occurs, and both the atoms of antimatter and matter turn into pure energy. In that respect, an anihilation is very similar to a nuclear explosion. Antimatter serves another, more passive purpose. The energy can be released and used to create electricity. Antimater has no waste material and is a much cleaner energy solution tham anything else. Due to the fact that antimatter and matter cannot touch, a special canister was made to store the antimatter. This cannister uses magnetic fields to suspend the antimatter in a vaccuum, thus preventing it from touching any matter. The canisters are small, mobile and are powered by 24 hour batteries. The canister stolen by the mercenary contained enough of this antimatter to destroy a small portion of a city.

During the mercenary's raid, he killed the person who discovered the antimatter and branded the scientist with an ancient Illuminati symbol thought to have been lost. This symbol was the word Illuminati, but there was something extraordinary about it. The word had perfect rotational symetry and could both normally, and upside-down. The discvery of this symbol branded into the chest of the dead scientist prompted the Director of CERN, Maximilian Kohler to contact Robert Langdon, an authority on the Illuminati. Langdon, along with the dead scientist's adopted daughter, Vittoria Vetra. Vittoria and her father were working on the Antimatter project in secret, and were supposedly the only two people in the world who knew of it. Vittoria briefs Kohler and Langdon on her work with antimatter, and during this time, they discover that a canister has been stolen. It is at this time that they recieve a message from the head of security at the vatican. A battery powered wireless security camera was stolen and ensconced within a shadowy nich somewhere within the confines of the Vatican city. The camera was showing a live feed of a strange canister with a mysterious liquid floating in the middle of it. On the canister was a label tracing the canister to CERN.

Maximilian Kohler instructs Robert and Vittoria to go to the Vatican and recover the lost canister before the battery runs out. Kohler cannot go himself due to a dehabilitating medical condition. When Robert and Vittoria arrive at the Vatican, they explain the situation to the Vatican Security. Because antimatter is not commonly known, the Head of Secuirty, Commander Olivetti, dismisses the threat of the canister and refuses to allocate the resources necessary to find it in time. He didn't have the time nor the manpower to perform this search, as the Pope had recently died and the Church was holding the conclave of the cardinals in order to elect a new one. Undettered, Robert and Vittoria continue to try and discover the canister with the help of the Camerlengo.

The mercenary contacts the Vatican and reveals that he has capturedthe top four most likely cardianls to become the new Pope. He plans on executing each of the cardinals every hour on the hour starting at 8:00 PM. An hour after the last cardinal is killed, the Vatican will be destroyed from the antimatter. This is supposedly because of an ancient Illuminati grudge against the Chruch. Robert Langdon suggest he knows of a way to determine where the murders will take place, but needs access to the Vatican archives in order to discover these locations and capture the assassin.

The Camerlengo grants Robert and Vittoria access to the Vatican archives, where they find an important clue in on of Galileo's works. Galileo, once a member of the Illuminati, used a leaflet to pass on the first in a series of clues that lead the reader though the fabled Path of Illumination, a series of trials used to recruit new members and weed out spies of the Chruch. The Path of Illumination was made specifically so only the best and the brightest could find their way. Robert Langdon and Vittoria Vetra begin their quest through the path of Illumination, hoping that they might find the cannister of antimatter at the end.

After following the path of Illumination, and failing to save the Cardinals durring the run-ins with the deadly assassin, Vittoria is captured and taken away. Robert Langdon finds the final clue and discovers the Chruch of Illumination, the secret meeting place of the Illuminati. He enters the hiding place and confronts the assassin. Together, Vittoria and Robert defeat the assassin, but fail to discover the whereabouts of the antimatter. The two return to the Vatican empty handed.

Robert and Vittoria arrive just in time to discover that Maximilian Kohler, the director of CERN, has finally recovered and made it to the Vatican. Kohler confronts the Camerlengo about the antimatter. During this confrontation, the Camerlengo is branded in the chest with the Illuminati Diamond, and Kohler is shot and killed. In Kohler's dying moments, he gives Robert Langdon a small recording and begs him to share its contents with the world. Disgusted that Kohler would ask him to do such a thing after Kohler had been found out to be behind this whole ordeal, Robert dismisses Kohler's last request and pockets the disk, forgetting about it.

Through a seemingly divine inspiration, the Camerlengo is convinced that he has discovered the location of the antimatter. The Camerlengo, Robert and Vitoria rush down into the depths of the catacombs of the Vatican and into the tomb of St. Peter. There they discover the canister of antimatter, but it was, unfortunately, too late. They did not have enough time left to return the canister to CERN, so the Camerlengo and Robert Langdon took a helicopter and flew the antimater canister high above the city. They left the antimatter canister in the helicopter and then jumped. The timer struck zero and the anitmatter was anihilated, creating an incredible explosion high above. Because of the quick thinking of the Camerlengo, the Chruch was saved. The Camerlengo was hailed as a hero.

It wasn't until things settled down a bit that Robert Langdon had thought to play the disk given to him by Kohler before his death. When he played the disk, he discovered that Kohler was not the mastermind Illuminati behind the plot, but it was actually the Camerlengo! This entire event was a elaborate ploy to revitilize the faith in the Chruch. The truth begins to unravel as the Camerlengo is shown to be the true villain he is. Unable to face life after the discovery of his true role in the night's horrific events, the Camerlengo covers himself in oil and burns himself alive. With an exhausting adventure behind them, Robert and Vittoria retire to a hotel and spend the night together. As a gift for his services to the Vatican, Langdon is given the Illuminati Diamond and is kindly asked not to tell the world of what really unfolded inside the Vatican. He agrees that it is best, and lets the world continue to believe that the Camerlengo was a hero and a martyr.


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#2 {lang:macro__useroffline}   Neraphym {lang:icon}

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Posted 25 April 2006 - 12:40 AM

A Reaction to Angels and Demons

Angels and Demons is one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. I simply could not put it down. Not only was it an exciting adventure story, it also inspired me to reevaluate my views about life and the many roles religion plays.

Religion is a very sensitive subject. It has both positive and negative aspects that influence just about everyone's life. The main problem with religion is the exclusiveness of it. Just about every religion states that if you are not a member of their specific religion, you are inherently wrong, evil, and inferior to those who are of this religion. This property of religion is responsible for millions and millions of deaths. Even today, people are being killed in the name of "the one true religion." Fortunately, most religions are beginning to shy away from the killings, even though it is actually contradictory to their religious beliefs. Religions also have a bad habbit of forcing themselves on other people. Religious groups create and sponsor legislation that, in effect, makes their religious ideals into law. An example of this would be laws banning gay marriage. As there is no legitimate secular agruement against gays being married, religions are effectively ruining the lives of many people for no good reason other than to spread their religious influence over others. Simply put, this is wrong and should not be done.

On the other hand, there are positive aspects to religions. Religions perform many gracious acts of charity. They fund medicine, hospitals, clinics, youth programs, and a great many other institutions beneficial to society. Religions can also influence people to act in manners positive to society. Religions come with strict moral and ethical codes that promote high ideals. Relgions are often the guiding light on many peoples' lives. I know people who were heading down some pretty bad paths in life, only to discover or rediscover religion. This has dramatically impacted their lives for the better. In this respect, I believe that religions are a very important integral part of our lives.

Personally, I am agnostic. I neither believe or disbelieve in God, and am convinced that there is no way that we can determine whether or not a God or Gods exist. I am comfortable in acknowledging my own ignorance in this regard. Unlike an Athiest or a person who subscribes to a religion, I am not arrogant enough to claim that "my way is absolutely correct and yours is wrong." I define my morals and ethics my own way, not based on anything religious in nature. I live my life according to how I see fit. Unfortunately, religion sometimes gets in my waym but it is usually a minor annoyance rather than an important, life-altering conflict.

The way society is headed, I believe that religion will eventually destroy itself. It is the victim of it's own absolution. In order to survive, religion must evolve with the times. If it fails to do so, it will not survive in an ever changing world. If religion does evolve, it will lose its credibility. If a religion is absolutely true, as most say they are, it would not need to evolve. In fact, it can't evolve. If it does evolve, it will be an entirely new religion, and then declair the previous instance of itself to be wrong. People will then become skeptic, thinking that if all the previous instances of this religion were wrong, that this current instance is in all probability equally wrong. This is the paradox that will eventually kill off religion.

If religion is going to destroy itself, there is no need to violently anihilate its core, as the Illuminati once plotted. There is no need to destroy Catholicism when it is withering away, degenerating into nothingness on its own accord. Not only is it pointless, it also involves killing. Scientists killing people for their religious beliefs is no better than religions killing people for their heretical scientific beliefs. I believe a passive approach to be much better. Although Religion has served an important role in our history, I see little use for it in the future. Humanity no longer needs religion, and science is chipping away at religious beliefs inch by inch, day by day.

Reading Angels and Demons allowed me to better see both sides of the war between religion and science. It helped me better understand my own views, and those of others. Not only did Angels and Demons have a deep intellectual inspiration, it was also a pretty darn good read. I'd recommend this book to anyone, whether religious or not.
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