A Pin to the Conspiracy Theorists' Balloon

So it would seem that everywhere I turn, I hear lots of people who (a) didn't pay attention at Sunday school, (b) didn't pay attention during religion classes at the parochial school their parents sent them to, (c) are simply looking for an excuse to "stick it" to Christianity, or (d) any combination of a, b, and c.

I've just heard for the umpteenth time: "Jesus' tomb has been found! And he had a wife and a son! Dan Brown was right!" Uh, no. Allow me, as a practicing Catholic and someone who attended parochial school for 13 years, to share some of what I learned.

First off, Jesus was a common name back in the first century A.D. (that's C.E. for all of you politically correct shmucks). Don't believe me? Go to behindthename.com, type in the name "Jesus", and you will find that it is actually an English translation of a Greek translation of an Aramaic translation of a Hebrew name. In fact, it is a shorter version of the Hebrew version of the name "Joshua". This is similar to "Mike" being the shorter version of "Michael". So, it's quite possible that there were more than one man named Jesus, living in the Holy Land.

Now, there is the notion that Jesus could not have been a respected member of the community without being a family man. While it was not common for a man to be unmarried, it was not unheard of. Look at the Prophets of the Old Testament, a group largely composed of unmarried men. In fact, Jewish tradition would not have precluded Jesus electing to lead a life of celibacy. Not only this, but could you, knowing that you would one day be put to death for the sake of the whole world, be so selfish as to want a family and put them through that agony? Jesus knew that he was sent to fulfill prophecy and redeem us all.

Hearing people like Larry King joke about this as being "the end of the Easter Bunny" leds further credence to what we have been saying all along. Christianity is under attack by people who consider themselves to be the most tolerate, and most intelligent, of all other people. The only problem is that unless you're an atheist, or an Islamo-fascist, you aren't entitled to benefit from their cultural and religious tolerance. They not only demonstrate their intolerance, but their ignorance as well. "Do not seek to remove the splinter from you neighbor's eye before removing the beam from your own."