Catholic body opposes telecast of Jesus documentary

[Doondoo]

After protesting the controversial blockbuster 'The Da Vinci Code' last year, Roman Catholics in the metropolis have again sprung into action against the worldwide premiere of a documentary that claims to have found the burial place of Jesus that challenges the basic tenets the Christian faith.

The Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), a Mumbai-based community organisation, have written to the Discovery Channel's office in New Delhi requesting it to refrain from broadcasting the feature documentary scheduled for a worldwide premiere Sunday.

'The Lost Tomb of Jesus' is a feature documentary, directed by Emmy Award-winning documentary film-maker Simcha Jacobovici and produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron of the 'Titanic' fame, Flex Golubev and Ric Esther Bienstock.

'The documentary trivialises the credibility of the Bible and the Christian faith,' said CSF general secretary Joseph Dias.

''The Lost Tomb of Jesus' hurts the sentiments in a pluralistic society and is an attempt for selfish profits and commercial gains or cheap publicity.'


http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/35559.html

[malaise]

1. Yep keep those catholic myths going

These people expose their hypocrisy 24/7.

[MADem]

3. Well, many Christian sects buy off on that whole rolling the stone away from the tomb

and the 'rose again from the dead' business. The Catholics may have thought it up, but everyone else in the Jesus Club has bought off on it, pretty much. They've also bought off on the concept of a 33 year old SINGLE JEWISH man in that era, despite it being an extreme oddity. They've also convinced themselves that Mary M. just HAD to be a putana, because it wouldn't do for women to have positions of authority in the religious heirarchy.

It's not hypocrisy, though, it's belief. And it's belief in the face of logic, common sense, and some inferential information that might be fact. But that's the nature of organized religion, I suppose. You lay down the ground rules, you live by them no matter what, and you don't let reality get in the way.

[malaise]

4. Belief based on brainwashing

I questioned everything and my obsessed catholic mother often got upset but thankfully she let me be. I got away with it at school because my mum was so close to the nuns. I've been mocking religious beliefs from childhood.

[MadHound]

2. One's faith must be weak if one has to resort to pre-emptive censorship

Sad really.

[EST]

5. What's really funny, to me, is that I know a lot of people

of catholic faith and they are, every one, excited at the prospect of this documentary. Not a one of them think there is anything wrong about learning as much about this world and its history as possible.

The cynical side of he wants to remark that it is little wonder that the leadership is concerned but the people who go to mass and make up the church think its a grand idea.

[Ian David]

6. The case the documentary is making is so weak...

that even The Vatican should be up to the intellectual challenge of shooting it down based on the merits of the facts.

But all they really know is bullying.

[mainer]

I haven't been so excited about a TV show in a long time

I think we should all watch it just to judge for ourselves. The statistics alone (that particular combination of names found in one tomb) make it a fascinating and quite possible proposition.

[Union Thug]

7. Funny how people are so willing to take as absolute truth the myths

of an archaic society, and cringe in horror at anything that contradicts that mythology, without any supporting evidence whatsoever. A previous post says that the documentary presents weak evidence. I'll take weak evidence over no evidence any day.

[WinkyDink]

8. Sometimes I marvel at how the Enlightenment has come and gone.

[Stuckinthebush]

9. Can't have people thinking!

That would be bad for business.

It seems as though the claims made in the documentary are or will be challenged by legitimate science, but I would imagine that the Catholic church and other Christian sects are more concerned about people asking questions than the veracity of the claims.

It is highly doubtful that this tomb contains the bones of the Jesus of the Bible. This isn't because it is more logical that Jesus ascended into heaven though. What this documentary does is continue to slowly chip away at the bedrock of Christian belief: That Jesus was a god, and that three days after his death he rose again for a number of days to then be bodily raised to heaven. Once people start questioning the probability of that event happening, then the power of the religion begins to fade. People will do amazing things to protect their beliefs.