Mr. Brown's argument that Mary Magdalene was maligned by the Church extends through his book to a more general charge of chauvinism.  Langdon cites the supposed belief of the Priory of Sion that "Constantine and his male successors successfully converted the world from matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity by waging a campaign of propaganda that demonized the sacred feminine, obliterating the goddess from modern religion forever" (p. 124).

The persecution which resulted from this campaign was supposedly fierce: "Midwives also were killed for their heretical practice of using medical knowledge to ease the pain of childbirth--a suffering, the Church claimed, that was God's rightful punishment for Eve's partaking of the Apple of Knowledge, thus giving birth to the idea of Original Sin.  During three hundred years of witch hunts, the Church burned at the stake an astounding five million women" (p. 125, emphasis his).

This vendetta had a supposed theological motivation as well: "The power of the female and her ability to produce life was once very sacred, but it posed a threat to the rise of the predominantly male Church, and so the sacred feminine was demonized and called unclean.  It was man, not God, who created the concept of 'original sin,' whereby Eve tasted of the apple and caused the downfall of the human race.  Woman, once the sacred giver of life, was now the enemy" (p. 238, emphasis his).

What are the actual facts of history and biblical record?

First, let's remember that Genesis does not describe the nature of the "fruit of the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen 2:17).  We certainly do not know that it was the "Apple of Knowledge."  And let's note that the European witch craze claimed between 30,000 and 50,000 victims.  Not all were executed by the Church, not all were women, and not all were burned.  Horrendous, to be sure, but not the "five million women" Langdon claims were "burned at the stake" by the Church.

Now let's see how the Bible actually relates to women.  First, the example of Jesus.  Our Lord spoke to a Samaritan woman when no one else would (Jn. 4).  He befriended an immoral woman no one else would welcome (Lk. 7:36-50, decidedly not Mary Magdalene).  He commended a widow's offering at the Temple (Lk 21:1-4).  He cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene (Lk 8:2), and called her and others to be his disciples.

What was the general status of women in the Scriptures?  Miriam was a prophetess (a preacher; Ex 15:20), as were Deborah (Judg. 4:4) and Huldah (2 K 22:14).  The New Testament cites Anna (Lk 2:36) and Philip's "four unmarried daughters who prophesied" (Ac. 21:9).  Paul cautioned a woman to cover her head when she "prophesied" in the church (1 Cor 11:5).  The apostle recognized Priscilla as the leader of the church in Rome with her husband Aquila (Ro 16:3-5).  He commended Euodia and Syntyche as his "fellow workers" (Phil. 4:2-3).  And he listed Junias as "among the apostles," the highest level of leadership in the early church (Ro. 16:7).

Remember that the resurrected Christ chose to appear first to Mary Magdalene, and to send her to the disciples with the news of Easter as the first evangelist in Christian history (Jn. 20:17).  Remember that Paul's first convert in Europe was Lydia, one of the leading citizens of Philippi; she soon established the church which met in her home (Ac. 16:14-15, 40).

It is hard to see how these descriptions fit with Mr. Brown's claim that the Church and its Bible waged a "campaign of propaganda" against women.  Scripture is clear: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:28-29).  Women and men alike.