By Siamang
Unless you’ve been parked on the planet Mungo for a week, you know that the King of the World claims to have found a box that previously contained the bones of somebody named Jesus.
There are various claims of DNA evidence and other evidence, including the names of others found with this ossuary that line up with some of the biblical names of Jesus’ family and/or friends. And then there are some extra folks that the Bible doesn’t talk about, and James Cameron draws the dotted lines to ask… “did Jesus have two sons?”
Ben Witherington has a skeptical look at the claims.
I am hopeful, however, about this. I have hope that this incident will provoke people in general and Christians specifically to practice looking at claims skeptically. I note that Christians reject this claim because it flatly contradicts Christian tradition about Jesus’ resurrection. I have read the reactions of atheists like PZ Meyers who reject it for being poor scholarship amazingly unsupported by the find.
But I do have hope that people will use something like this to think about skepticism and the reasons why this claim is not credible.
Myself as a person who does not believe in Biblical inerrency STILL has a strong skepticism about the claims of James Cameron. I think there’s an interesting lesson there, that there are some things that Christians and non-Christians can come to a consensus about based on the facts on the ground. We can agree that the King of the World is more PT Barnum than Howard Carter.
-Siamang
And I do get an ironic chuckle from that Discovery Channel link above. The page features an ad for another Discovery Channel show, the skeptical “Mythbusters.”
Posted in A Cacophony of Posts | 9 Comments »Kevin sent me the following. He found the quotes he used on H.E.R.B.. Thoughts? Comments?
In addition to reading what Kevin put together I suggest you also read this post on CatE: The Myth of a Christian Nation. It presents a Christian view quite different from the view(s) expressed in the quotes below.
to anyone who thinks that atheists are “god haters” let me just say, it is impossible to hate something that you dont believe exists. there is no god. its your delusion and your forcing it on us that we hate. it is we who are under attack, the people who dont suffer from the god delusion. (thanks richard dawkins) we are under attack by the very people who claim, “there is a war on christmas”… well…. for all of you people… here it is in their own words. this is what sanity is up against.
The “wall of separation between church and state” is a metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned.– William Rehnquist, Supreme Court
The idea that religion and politics don’t mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country.– Rev. Jerry Falwell
The Constitution of the United States , for instance, is a marvelous document for self-government by the Christian people. But the minute you turn the document into the hands of non-Christian people and atheistic people they can use it to destroy the very foundation of our society. And that’s what’s been happening.–Pat Robertson
Read the rest of this news item »
In case any of you didn’t see this on our other blogs, here’s a free preview of the upcoming book, Jim and Casper go to Church
Posted in A Cacophony of Posts, Ir (Helen) | No Comments »