The claims this week that James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici made regarding burial boxes that allegedly contain the bones of Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene has caused quite the fuss. Frankly, I think it's bogus. I agree with the vast majority of Christians who say that there simply is no way these could be what they say it is. Anyone remember the hoax surrounding the James Ossuary? The box was authentic (according to the Israeli government) but the inscription on it was a forgery.
But let's set aside for a minute what this piles onto -- the longstanding allegation that Jesus and Magdalene were married. There's no doubt they had a special relationship, perhaps to the point of being best friends. But married? The historical record just doesn't bear that out. If they were, the authentic four Gospel writers would have pointed that out.
My beef isn't the ridiculousness of the claim, the same one made in The Da Vinci Code. Rather, it's the attempts by some to get the upcoming documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus banned from the airwaves. Yup, the so-called Media Research Center and the Catholic League are up to their old tricks again. In fact, Bill Donohue of the CL actually said: “It’s time the Discovery Channel discovered ethics and stopped with the sensationalism.”
Get a life! Most people are going to watch the show and then just dismiss it with a laugh. Because that's all Cameron and Jacobovici deserve to get for financing a project based on a very tenuous theory. Especially considering they now claim the James Ossuary is the "missing link" that proves Jesus wasn't executed.
Should we expect more in terms of standards from the Discovery Channel? Probably. But they've put out a lot of other crazy theories out there, which are now deemed to be not so crazy after all. And of course they've the highly rated MythBusters which puts a whole bunch of urban legends to the test.
So here's my suggestion. Donohue: Get a life, sir. Seriously. You're entitled to your opinions, but the First Amendment protects the free marketplace of ideas, not matter how ridiculous. Free speech doesn't only apply when people agree with you but when they disagree as well. The people should decide whether this theory is real or not, and using their common sense they probably will. But don't you dare say the documentary should be banned just because you hate Hollywood.
And to the Discovery Channel: Air the documentary as is, then let the MythBusters team figure out whether this is a bogus story as well. Given the proven record on the first ossuary, it shouldn't be that hard for M5 to bust the Jesus and Magdalene story out of the Dead Sea, once and for all. Then maybe we can finally put the "King of the World" out of his wretched business, as he so richly deserves to be, and get some reputable people to dig through antiquities and put them through the scientific method.
Will I be watching next week? Sure. My dad's still in critical condition and I need the laugh, desperately.
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