Britain Gets All the Cool TV…

First Richard Dawkins’ documentaries… now this.

There was no manger, Christ is not the Messiah, and the crucifixion never happened. A forthcoming ITV documentary will portray Jesus as Muslims see him.

I do like the question at the end of the article:

However, Patrick Sookhdeo, an Anglican canon and spokesman for the Barnabas Fund, which works with persecuted Christians, accused broadcasters of double standards. Mr Sookhdeo, who was born a Muslim and converted to Christianity in 1969, said: “How would the Muslim community respond if ITV made a programme challenging Muhammad as the last prophet?”

The Koran’s denial of Jesus’s divinity was “unacceptable”. “On the last day the Koran says Jesus will destroy all the crosses. How can we praise that?”

I still want to know when America will ever broadcast these.

One Farker speaks for the atheists by posting this cartoon:

[tags]atheist, atheism, Christian, Muslim, Jesus, Mohammed, Muhammad, Islam, Koran, Richard Dawkins, ITV, Patrick Sookhdeo, Barnabas Fund[/tags]

Aaron

Actually, as I understand it, many Muslims DO believe Jesus is the Messiah, even though they reject his being God incarnate. Some even believe in the virgin birth. Hopefully that was a mistake on the journalist’s part, not the documentarians. But I have to say, I’m skeptical if they claim to be using “the Koran as a main source and drawing on interviews with scholars and historians.”

There’s a big difference between what the Koran says and what the average Muslim believes, just like you can’t get the whole of a mainstream Christian’s worldview just by reading the Bible. If you want to know what Muslims believe, don’t read the Koran, ask a Muslim! 😛
Richard

If it wasn’t for YouTube there is no way we in the US would get to see these shows. We really need to let it be known to the media that there is a market for them.

Richard
http://lifewithoutfaith.com
benj

Yeah, I think Muslims regard the only begotten son highly. The whole veil-wearing thing is inspired by Mary, I think.

By the way, I just got back to writing more Atheism related posts. Finally.

http://atheista.net
olvlzl, no ism, no ist

and the crucifixion never happened. .

Perhaps this is true, I don’t know, I wasn’t there. But your endorsement of it replaces multiple historical sources that the crucifixion of Jesus happened, as would be expected under the Roman occupation, with the word of one man who claimed that he was told this by a supernatural entity. I know that the standards of history are held in little regard by the cult of scientism, but multiple attestation is a higher standard of evidence than a single source which claims divine authorization.

TV, British or American, as a source for what’s cool is proof that cool ain’t what it used to be. Some of British TV is pretty lousy, especially when pretending to present science. It’s as bad as the Discovery Channel.
olvlzl, no ism, no ist

benj, I don’t know where you heard that story about the veil but it’s entirely made up.
vjack

Isn’t it a fairly safe assumption that most of the television executives in the US who have the power to make such decisions are religious? Given that religious folk generally don’t tolerate criticism of their precious religions, I’m not sure we should expect this to change anytime soon (at least not until we become far more politically active).
olvlzl, no ism, no ist

vjack, the safest assumption is that TV executives who have the power to make decisions are devoutly religious. They are among the greatest Mammonists of all time. As such there is precedent to believe that they not only don’t but can’t serve God.
blackskeptic

When I was in London three years ago, I remember that instead of Britain’s Funniest Home Videos, they had Britain’s Naughtiest Home Videos at around 9 or 10pm where they showed a man tripping down the stairs full frontal naked. I watched this with my aunt. At 9pm Cartoon Network becomes Turner Classic Movies. I guess they expect the kiddies to be in bed by then, but yes, they definitely get all the good shows :/

Plus, I wish we had a secular tv station kind of like how Christians have several Christian stations. Oh, I guess the interweb will do for now.
Maria

How would the Muslim community respond if ITV made a programme challenging Muhammad as the last prophet?”

probably similarly to how they responded to the Danish cartoons (the militant ones, not all Muslims!)

I really do wish they would put this stuff on cable here so we could see it……thank goodness for the internet……