Let’s see…for the end of December so far, we have…Harper’s running two "I got smart and lost my Christian faith" pieces, the New Yorker running a lengthy profile of anti-Deity Phillip Pullman, and now look who’s on the cover of Newsweek!

Silas! Do your magic!

Our hopes that Silas might not be id’d as Opus Dei are somewhat dashed:

Before shooting began, Opus Dei spokesman Brian Finnerty says, he petitioned Howard to remove the prelature’s name from the film, and received no response. When asked by NEWSWEEK if the film mentions Opus Dei, Howard stops just short of saying yes. "Opus Dei is mentioned in the book," he says, "and we didn’t shy away from that or any other aspect of the story." "That’s news to me," Finnerty says. "I’ll have to get back to you." Three days later, in an e-mail, Finnerty told NEWSWEEK: "Nobody likes to see themselves caricatured on the big screen. I hope that Sony will play by the same rules of fairness in portraying the Catholic Church as you would expect for the portrayal of any other religious or ethnic group." He added that Opus Dei will respond by "trying to turn lemons into lemonade" and use the attention to "inform people what Opus Dei is really about."

You know, I say, bastards. But do you know what else I say? Let us not engage in 6 months of outrage. Let us embark on 6 months of gleeful mockery at stupidity and gullibility and greed. Shall we? I do think it’s the best response to this film, myself.