# Fox "news" and Christianity **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 2, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817 "2004-04-02T00:13:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/21 "2004-04-02T15:54:33Z")
And TVLand’s endless reruns of _Leave It to Jesus_ (“Ward, I’m worried about the Jeez”). ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/22 "2004-04-02T16:01:25Z")
Fox isn’t alone in this. As others have noted, it’s pretty common place for the news media to do occasional specials on Jesus. _Time_, _Newsweek_, CNN, The History Channel, A&E and others do these specials all the time. My problem isn’t that they do them but that they do so in such a glurgey, pseudo-journalistic manner. They pretend that they are “pulling back veils” and so forth to find the “real Jesus” but they don’t have the courage to examine the Jesus myth in a truly journalistic fashion (which would force them to conclude that virtually nothing can be concluded). They treat miracle stories as if they merit any sort of serious historical consideration. They are extremely uncritical of the gospels, they interview Christian clergy about their personal or denominational interpretations of the gospels as if that has any historical probative value. They are usually careful to include at least one Jew and one “liberal” scholar (it seems like they always trot out Crossan for this role) but they do it in a token fashion while they give breathless, credulous attention to more traditional views. They usually draw fallacious conclusions like “We may never know exactly what happened on that first Easter sunday, but _something_ changed the apostles lives forever.” Of course, this relies on a number of unproven assumptions (such as an unproven assumption that Jesus and the apostles existed at all, much less that there was an empty tomb or an “Easter Sunday.”) These are not journalistic excercises, they’re ratings gimmicks. The last thing they want to do is offend their target demographic for these things by really reporting what hard critical scholarship says about the gospels and the historicity of Jesus, so they just ask pointless questions (“was Jesus really the Son of God? Millions say yes”) as if that amounts to any sort of edification of the audience. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/23 "2004-04-02T16:01:56Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > ABC has a “Jesus and Paul” special coming down the pike, too. So it’s not just Fox. > > As for why, I’d wager it’s one part “Passion,” and one part Easter. It’s not just eggs and rabbits, y’know… The annual showings of **The Ten Commandments** and **Ben-Hur** are just around the corner. Y’know, they are actually pretty good movies if you can overlook some of the more amusing anachronisms… ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/24 "2004-04-02T16:07:44Z")
Christ, this Jesus guy … he’s bigger than the Beatles! ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/25 "2004-04-02T16:28:57Z")
> [@](#): > > These are not journalistic excercises, they’re ratings gimmicks. The last thing they want to do is offend their target demographic for these things by really reporting what hard critical scholarship says about the gospels and the historicity of Jesus, so they just ask pointless questions (“was Jesus really the Son of God? Millions say yes”) as if that amounts to any sort of edification of the audience. I’m in the audience, and I’m edified by it. Hard critical scholarship is just as speculative as hard sympathetic scholarship, so it’s not like cynics have the high ground or anything. And by the way, that’s billions, not millions. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/26 "2004-04-02T17:40:14Z")
> [@Libertarian](#): > > I’m in the audience, and I’m edified by it. Hard critical scholarship is just as speculative as hard sympathetic scholarship, so it’s not like cynics have the high ground or anything. And by the way, that’s billions, not millions. **Lib** , I think you may have the wrong idea of what I mean by “hard critical scholarship.” True critical scholarship avoids speculation as much as possible and simply searches for what can be known with certainty. As I said in my first post what can be concluded about historical Jesus from a critical analysis is that virtually nothing can be concluded. Any serious attempt a a journaistic investigation of Jesus would simply have to conclude that almost no information can be verified in any direction. It was not my intention to imply that these shows should run with any of the myriad naturalistic theories about Jesus as an itinerrant rabbi, or a magician, or a mediterranean Cynic, or a Hindu mystic or any of that "Holy Blood/Holy Grail/_DaVinci Code_ stuff, all of which I agree is still speculative at best and complete rot at worst. What I’m saying is that they are never intellectually honest enough to simply admit that this is a story that’s almost impossible to “investigate” in any journalistic sense. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/27 "2004-04-02T17:56:58Z")
> [@LorieSmurf](#): > > Gawd people! It’s a FICTIONAL BOOK. Chill. _Which?_ or _Both?_ ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/28 "2004-04-02T18:21:48Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > _Which?_ or _Both?_ Well, I was referring to the Left Behind book, but now that you mention it… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/29 "2004-04-02T19:03:04Z")
I did a [blog entry](http://www.mindsay.com/talkread.bml?journal=alterego&itemid=11858&nc=9) on a comment O’reilly stated about Jesus once before. On November 19, 2003, Bill O’reilly [said](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103650,00.html) , > [@](#): > > _“The Menorah is up. The crescent and star is up. And the nativity scene can be up because you can admire Jesus the philosopher without believing that he’s God as millions of Americans do. It’s insulting.”_ For the record, I’d like to kick Bill O’reilly’s ass. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/30 "2004-04-02T19:15:47Z")
> [@Spiff](#): > > Christ, this Jesus guy … he’s bigger than the Beatles! [I knew Jesus before He was a superstar!](http://www.songlyricscollection.com/g/Glen%20Campbell/I%20Knew%20Jesus/I%20Knew%20Jesus%20before%20He%20Was%20A%20Star%20lyrics.htm) ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/31 "2004-04-02T19:22:15Z")
“The Apostle” Jesus-’“You’re fired!” ---
**Author:** ![Inoshiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a9adbd/32.png) [@Inoshiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inoshiro)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/32 "2004-04-02T22:19:36Z")
Well I did like Fox’s coverage of the big Jesus/Satan bout. I mean usually you can only get a fight that big on PPV. I still think Satan took a dive though. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/33 "2004-04-02T22:22:46Z")
> [@clayton\_e](#): > > Fox’s special on Jesus suggests, right or wrong (though sadly I assume “right”), that Fox is biased to Christianity, bringing all of its news reporting into question. If so, then this thread brings all of your posts into question. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/34 "2004-04-02T23:03:06Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > It’s not just eggs and rabbits, y’know… **adjusts pentacle necklace** Well, it is to ME! I’m with **Dio** , as usual. Signed, kfl, SDMB Crackpot (and proud) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/35 "2004-04-03T00:58:37Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > The annual showings of **The Ten Commandments** and **Ben-Hur** are just around the corner. Y’know, they are actually pretty good movies if you can overlook some of the more amusing anachronisms… Moses didn’t actually wear Dockers slacks? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/36 "2004-04-03T01:03:55Z")
> [@LorieSmurf](#): > > The big story is that Jesus Comes Again in the latest book and GASP…people are upset because /whiny voice/ that’s not how it is in the Bible! \whiny voice\ Are you saying the New Testament doesn’t predict Jesus coming again, or is there something about the way he comes back in the Lahaye book that contradicts? ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/37 "2004-04-03T02:16:46Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > When it comes to Fox News, I just ask myself “what would Jesus watch?” Then I put in the Matrix. I’ll bet Jesus would be blown away by the Matrix. Jesus would probably answer, “We angels spar like that all the time, without using wires.” ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/38 "2004-04-03T08:13:28Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > If so, then this thread brings all of your posts into question. I never said I wasn’t biased… the introduction is a list of reasons I hate Fox. This is only one point of view, its good to get a few in there. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/39 "2004-04-03T12:18:12Z")
Yeah, but that’s not why you hate Fox News. If it were, you would hate the other ones as well. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817/40 "2004-04-03T16:31:43Z")
> [@capacitor](#): > > Jesus would probably answer, “We angels spar like that all the time, without using wires.” Jesus: “You think that’s air you’re breathing?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-news-and-christianity/237817.md?page=3)