Film on Christ angers Kenya church leaders

ALC/ENI, NAIROBI, Kenia, March 12, 2007

Church leaders in Kenya have joined those expressing anger at the Hollywood documentary on the life of Jesus, which alleges his resurrection and ascension never occurred, and that he had a son.

"These people are full of imaginations and prejudices," Nairobi Roman Catholic Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a' Nzeki told journalists in Mombasa.

The documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, directed by James Cameron, famed for the blockbuster movie, Titanic, premiered on March 4 on the Discovery Channel and was broadcast locally in Kenya through the DSTV channel.

It is based on what producers describe as new scientific evidence, including DNA analysis, as well as studies by leading scholars, suggesting a 2000 year old Jerusalem tomb could have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family. It also suggests Jesus and Mary Magdalene might have had a son named Judah.

"It's outrageous and shocking," Anglican Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi said. He told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper on March 4 that this was "a great distortion of the biblical teachings that have been the bedrock of the Christian faith for centuries".

The church leaders want their followers to stick to the biblical teaching that Jesus was crucified and buried, and that the disciples visited the tomb three days later and found that he had been resurrected.

"There are many millions of us who believe in the biblical story of Jesus," said Samson Gaitho, who heads the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa.

Last year, Hollywood released, The Da Vinci Code, a movie that has Mary Magdalene appearing as Jesus’ wife, which some church leaders urged their followers to watch, but not to be swayed by.

The documentary was dismissed by a Colorado, US-based maker of biblical documentaries, David Balsiger, who said "There is simply nothing new in the baseless claims made in the 'The Lost Tomb of Christ'." Balsiger, senior producer at Grizzly Adams Productions, with a team of 28 veteran scientists, archeologists, and scholars recently produced a pair of scientifically and biblically based documentaries on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. "For years we've been addressing the un-scientific claims and sloppy scholarship of movies, books, and other projects just like this latest pop-science TV special," said Balsiger.

Source: Ecumenical News Internacional : www.eni.ch