Quote Originally Posted by shutterman
Just an FYI.
It seems to me like some people at the top got a little nervous about the content of this documentary

Which brings up an interesting point. Had this special been about the lost tomb of Julius Cesar and the evidence suggested that history might have recorded his family history incompletely, something tells me the backlash would not have been quite so strong. The fact that Jesus became a religious figure after his death and that the religion which elevated Jesus has such a strong following in this country seems to confound the objectivity of a documentary such as this. People are understandably threatened by any evidence or words which might suggest their religious figure or sacred texts are incomplete, or wrong, or being contradicted by scientific evidence. I think one of the unfortunate results of this special airing is that Discovery, the director, James Cameron, et al were perceived as "attacking Christianity." In fact, they were merely exploring archeology and espousing a radical hypothesis about an historical, and later religious, figure. It seems to me the religious ties of Jesus of Nazareth are going to further complicate any future studies of his life from an historical perspective. His religious followers are going to fear any scientific results which contradict their beliefs and perceive any evidence contradicting their views as "an attack." This persecutory response, coupled with the considerable financial and political weight of their religion, is going to make any further explorations and discoveries like this one compex, burdonsome, and seeming hardly worthy of the challenges involved. Whereas if the historical landscape were leveled and people were not as sensitive to the figure Jesus of Nazareth I would think historical evidence of his existence might be easier to find and hypotheses about his existence easier to formulate, without the fear of religious backlash.

All imo, of course!
Rick