Easter may be replacing Christmas as the most vilified and secularized Christian holiday in America.
More on the Easter assault on Christianity, from the San Diego Union-Tribune:
“We have nothing to fear from serious scientific inquiry, but when it's slanted and leaves out the religious point of view, it's very misleading. It can all be tied together in a slick package that can be very compelling.”
This year's outrage for Christians was “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” a documentary suggesting that a south Jerusalem cave discovered in 1980 contained the remains of Jesus – indicating he wasn't resurrected. The filmmakers also suggest that Mary Magdalene was buried in the tomb, that she and Jesus were married, and that a stone box labeled “Judah son of Jesus” belonged to their son.
The documentary was unveiled six days into Lent by James Cameron, Oscar-winning director of “Titanic,” who produced the film. Top archeologists in the U.S. and abroad called that claim and the film's findings preposterous, but a book based on the documentary quickly climbed the best-seller list.
“There is more tolerance in the general culture for all things wild and wacky about Jesus,” said Ben Witherington, a New Testament expert at Asbury Theological Seminary and author of “What Have They Done With Jesus?”
Last year's Lenten season brought similar affronts.
The paperback edition of Dan Brown's novel “The Da Vinci Code” – about a Roman Catholic conspiracy to hide Jesus' marriage – was released, along with Michael Baigent's nonfiction, “The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History.”
Baigent said that Jesus was married and had a child and was not thought to be divine until long after his era. The author conceded that “we are short of evidence” backing his claims. Still, his book publicity asked: “What if everything we have been told about the origins of Christianity is a lie?”
Other Easters have seen the release of works on the Gnostic gospels – the religious rival that lost out to orthodox Christianity in ancient times – and TV specials asserting that Jesus was merely human.
“It's become a rite of passage in the Lenten season,” said Bill Donohue, head of the Catholic League, an anti-defamation group. “It's not a matter of 'Let's agree to disagree,' it's a matter of 'Let's undermine Christianity.'”
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