David Boles is the webmaster of a blog entitled Urban Semiotic, which “was founded to address tender questions of human living and rougher matters rotting the urban core.” I have no problem with Boles, his blog, his opinions, or anything of the sort. The comments policy on his site states, several times, that not all comments will be published. Based on the feedback I’ve been receiving from a few readers of this blog, I have no doubt that anything I submit will not be published either. Therfore, I wish to respond to this article, titled “Jesus Found Dead in His Grave” right here so that I will not risk deletion.

Overall, the tone of the article is of someone who is vindicated. At last, we can rest easy since the tomb of Jesus has been found. There was no Ressurection. Now religion can die in peace and we’ll never have to hear from it again. The grotesque picture of Christ is more than enough evidence of that.

His standpoint is evident by the use of the term “Jesus myth” following the lengthy quote that summarizes the Jesus Tomb controversy. I have no intention of restating that here; for a big picture analysis check out the Time Magazine blog on the subject.

I doubt Boles is an actual “Christ myther,” as the adherents to the school of thought that Jesus Christ was never a real, historical person are dubbed by the Tektonics group. Here, I think that Boles simply means that Jesus’ ministry is a modern myth, the way that pantheon of Greek gods is regarded today. In fact, our beliefs about Jesus are called “myth” a few times within the article. This cements for me that Boles does not believe that the stories told in the gospels are true, but a later “mythology” developed by zealous followers.

It should be noted that the discovery of Jesus’ “body” in a tomb is not the “process of shattering of the Jesus myth into Atheism [sic],” but would only serve to bolster alternate positions of how the Ascention occured. The orthodox position is that Jesus ascended body and soul into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. However, there is a school of thought that says only His soul was assumed into heaven.

I am, of course, getting ahead of the issue. There is still no reliable evidence that indicates this tomb is the tomb of Christ and His family. Boles does not appear to be a theologian nor does he have any interest in bolstering either side of that argument. His naive statement betrays that he has no idea other school of thoughts on that matter even exist. The real issue is stated here:

I understand this revolt against the sanctity of the core of Christianity is a direct response to the rise of Christian Fundamentalism in America where Believers now force their myths into mandatory mainstream acceptance: “If you don’t Believe, you’re sinner; if you don’t Repent, you’re going into the fires of hell.”

     The Fundamentalists achieve that punctilious end by poisoning the Political process with their harsh and unloving beliefs and the rest of America — the unmoved middle class who prefer soccer to sacrilege — go along with the movements of the breeze as long as it doesn’t adversely affect their lifestyle.

     With the Far Right Fundamentalists pressing their agenda into Iraq and Iran and even here on the Homeland in the Supreme Court and in the villages and the valleys, the middle class are beginning to see their precious personal rights are winnowing away in the sweaty palms of those who believe in blood and nails and those who worship the implements of death like crucifixes and spears — instead of loving each other just enough to leave people alone.

     If the myth is unwillingly perpetuated into popular culture by the True Believers — sooner or later people, good people, will rise up and fight back for the right to be left alone and to think as they wish and not as others command them to think.

     One of the weapons the mighty ordinary wield against the Myths of the Believers is the scientific process.

Yes, the real issue is that conservatives have control of government, and are attempting to impose morality upon the masses of people. We desire people to live as the Bible commands, as our Creator desires we live. However, that is not how Western culture teaches a person to behave. Here in the United States, people are taught to think for themselves, not to let anyone push them around, and anyone who wants you to behave as part of a collective whole is automatically wrong and you must fight them. It is all about individualism.

The supreme popularity of websites like MySpace is just more evidence of this. With MySpace, a person creates and personaizes a page that is all about him or herself. Is this not the pinnacle of vanity and self-asorbtion? Read the rest of this entry »