Discovery Channel has put off the screening of 'The Lost Tomb of Jesus' following protests from various Christian groups in India and abroad.
NEW DELHI: Discovery Channel has put off the screening of controversial documentary - The Lost Tomb of Jesus - following protests from various Christian groups in India and abroad.
The channel was to air the documentary produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron that contradicts major Christian tenets such as resurrection of Christ on Sunday.
According to the documentary, the caskets used to store bones discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family. Reports said names of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and other relatives were found on the caskets. The documentary also claims that Judah was Jesus’s “secret son” from Mary of Magdalene.
Cameron claimed that the ossuaries contained in the tombs that were used as coffins in the first-century Jerusalem were scientifically examined. According to the documentary, one of the tombs contained ten ossuaries belonging to the family of Jesus.
Earlier, archaeologists and clergymen in Jerusalem had trashed the claims.
Discovery Channel has put off the screening following protests by Christian groups in US, Canada, Jerusalem and India against the documentary.
Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body of Church in India, said documentaries of this sort will not go down well with anyone who respects religion and religious faith.
“The documentary is not based on proven historical fact. Historically speaking evidences closer to the event have more authenticity than evidences dished out after 2000 years. According to Biblical and non-Biblical sources, it has been believed that Jesus rose from the dead, and that is the basis of entire Christian faith and tradition,” said CBCI spokesman Father Babu Joseph.
Mumbai-based Catholic Secular Forum had also protested the documentary for “trivialising” the entire Christian faith.
Catholic Secular Forum general secretary Joseph Dias had sent out memorandums to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi expressing concern at the scandalous claims made in the documentary. The channel has expressed regret for inadvertently hurting the religious sentiments of the Christian community.
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