Christianity

In his first epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul made it perfectly clear that a belief in the bodily resurrection of Christ as the sine qua non of Christianity. If Christ was not raised from the dead, that the whole of the Christian faith is an utter sham, the apostolic witness fraudulent, the basis of Christian hope nonexistent, and the poor saps who go on attempting to live a life guided by…

Ten years ago, Mel Gibson unveiled his massively successful movie The Passion of The Christ. It came out on Ash Wednesday (February 25, 2004), but is often re-viewed on Good Friday. It had a worldwide box-office gross of over $611 million. In our Special Report on religion coverage that year, we explored how the TV networks attacked Gibson's movie as extreme, divisive, and potentially harmful…

Al Sharpton entered truly ludicrous territory during an appearance Wednesday on Tom Joyner’s radio show. While talking about the meaning of Easter, the Baptist minister and MSNBC host dragged President Obama into the mix: "As I looked at President Obama at our convention last Friday, where all he took he’s been able to rise politically again, I’m not comparing him to Jesus, but I am saying…

Fox News host Megyn Kelly invited MRC president Brent Bozell to the airwaves to discuss a new MRC study on how about nine of every ten Easter references on network news are secular references to eggs, bunnies, candy, and not Jesus Christ.  As Kelly aptly summarized it, "Instead of talking about Jesus or faith, almost 90 percent of the network's newscast reports on Easter focus on fashion,…

Promising a look at the "seedy side of sainthood," Daily Beast Vatican correspondent Barbie Latza Nadeau hyped the concerns of "critics [who] say the two popes were pushed through to sainthood without a thorough vetting." Latza Nadeau's story comes 10 days before the canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II and, perhaps more importantly, on Holy Thursday, arguably a stick in the eye…

Conan O'Brien apparently couldn't resist making a pedophile priest joke on his TBS program on Wednesday, after Pope Francis took two school boys on a ride around St. Peter's Square during his weekly audience: "The Pope let two 11-year-old boys ride in the Popemobile with him...Afterwards, the Vatican told the Pope, that's not the kind of publicity we're looking for today. What the hell is that…

MSNBC is not known as a champion of religion, unless it’s someone who is liberal coming on to criticize religious individuals, especially if they are a member of the Catholic Church. Take Sister Simone Campbell, president of the liberal Catholic organization NETWORK, who has been featured on the “Lean Forward” network multiple times for her criticism of Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and his…

This week holds some critical dates. April 15 haunts most Americans as a tax deadline. April 18 and 20 this year commemorate the pinnacle in Holy Week — Good Friday and Easter. But April 13 still stands as an important day that eludes most Americans. It's the birthday of Thomas Jefferson. We patriots love to quote the Founding Fathers, especially when they support our theses. And Jefferson…

On Thursday evening, both ABC and CBS relayed news that a manuscript claiming Jesus had a wife was found to be an "ancient" document and "not a modern forgery." They ignored skeptics of the document, however. "We have the results of scientific testing on a controversial scrap of papyrus that some call the 'gospel of Jesus' wife'," touted CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley. He added that "…

NPR's Terry Gross anticipated the Christian holy day of Easter on Monday's Fresh Air by boosting "popular" author Bart Ehrman's latest book, where the agnostic scholar asserted that "Jesus himself didn't call himself God and didn't consider himself God, and that none of his disciples had any inkling at all that he was God." During the segment, Gross wondered if "Christians made the claim that…

In an interview with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer fretted over the Killing Jesus author wanting the historical life of Christ to be taught in schools: "[In] public schools these days, you go sit in one of those classes and you're surrounded by kids of four or five, six different faiths. Why should they sit there and listen to the story of Jesus Christ…

Looks like the left might be getting some of that old-time religion.  Old-time, as in circa 2007-8, when Barack Obama was being hailed as The One and some sort of messiah. On today's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski described yesterday's White House equal-pay-for-women event which she attended, sitting next to Valerie Jarrett. Brzezinski said  "it was sort of like a church revival. I'm telling…

On her Saturday morning talk show on MSNBC, Melissa Harris-Perry launched into Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant for signing a “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” that allows religious people to practice their faith in the business world. Harris-Perry not only attacked the GOP governor for enabling the “bigots” to “dehumanize” the LGBT lobby, but lectured that he can add “In God We Trust” to the…

There’s a certain delicious irony in the global warming industry – the one that’s always screaming about climate change “deniers” not “believing in science” – trying to make a religious appeal to Christians. The Huffington Post on April 5 published “Climate Change Threats To ‘The Least of These’ Compel Evangelical Christians to Act,” in which writer Lynne Peeples interviewed Katharine Hayhoe…