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CATHOLIC FORUM FORCES DISCOVERY TO CANCEL PLANS
TO AIR DOCUMENTARY ON 'TOMB OF JESUS' IN INDIA
Indiantelevision.com
March 3, 2007

http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k7/mar/mar48.htm

MUMBAI - Looks like Catholics in India are more than a little touchy when it
comes to Jesus on film and television. Earlier this year, they had opposed
the movie The Da Vinci Code. The film was eventually released with a note
before and after the film that it was a work of fiction.

Now the Mumbai-based Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) has forced Discovery to
cancel plans to air the documentary The Lost Tomb Of Jesus. As has already
been reported by Indiantelevision.com, the programme claims to show that
scientific analysis of limestone ossuaries (bone boxes) and physical
evidence found in a 2,000-year-old tomb in Talpiot, Jerusalem, provide
credible new information that the tomb once may have held the remains of
Jesus of Nazareth and his family.

James Cameron served as executive producer on the show. It has been directed
by Simcha Jacobovici. The documentary, which will have its global television
premier tomorrow (4 March), claims to present the latest evidence from
experts in Aramaic script, ancient DNA analysis, forensics, archaeology and
statistics

In India, the CSF had written to Discovery in New Delhi requesting it to
refrain from broadcasting the feature. CSF argued that the show trivialises
the credibility of the Bible and the Christian faith.

CSF secretary Joseph Dias was quoted in reports as stating that the show
hurt religious sentiments in a pluralistic society and was an attempt to
commercialise religion for selfish profit and commercial gains or cheap
publicity.

With references to Jesus as a human being with a family; mentions of Judah
as the secret offspring of Jesus through Mary Magdalene; a portrayal of
Mathew, one of the writers of the Gospels, as a maternal relative of Jesus
and a mention of the burial of Jesus' siblings in the same tomb, the CSF
says the documentary attacks the basic tenets of Christianity.

While cancelling plans to telecast it in India, Discovery "expressed regret
that the channel had inadvertently hurt religious sentiments of the
Christian community". The CSF had threatened an agitation on the day of
telecast and legal action if the channel went ahead with the telecast.

The CSF even sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other
ministers, including information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan
Dasmunsi, demanding that the telecast be scrapped.

CSF is also looking to prevent the release of the book and DVD in the
country.

............

NHNE's "Lost Tomb Of Jesus" Resource Page:
http://www.nhne.com/specialreports/jesustomb/

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Published by David Sunfellow
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
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