The Baptism of Christ

Image Of Christ Tops Maltese Coin Poll

The Times of Malta reports (Feb. 3, 2006) that “The Baptism of Christ,” as depicted in a marble sculpture by late baroque artist Giuseppe Mazzuioli at St. John's Cathedral in Valletta, has emerged as the favorite image among the Maltese to be put on Malta's euro coins after it polled the highest number of votes.

As the island of Malta prepares to change its currency for the first time in 35 years, when it adopted the decimal system, almost 17,000 of Malta’s 400,000 citizens cast votes in a nationwide text-message and telephone poll. The public was asked to choose from among 12 images, and the three most popular choices to be put on coins no bigger than a few centimeters in diameter were: The Baptism of Christ (3,498 votes); the national coat of arms (2,742 votes); and the Mnajdra Temple Altar, the most prominent feature of a prehistoric temple complex that was discovered in 1836 (1,872 votes).

Tonio Fenech, Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, admitted that he was not surprised that the highest number of votes was cast for the image of Christ, especially after an e-mail campaign, steered by a priest,  asked people to vote for it as a means of celebrating Malta's Christian tradition. “We have to remember that Christianity is ingrained in European culture,” said Mr. French.

Among those campaigning against using the image of Christ on the new euro coin is Times columnist Kenneth Zammit Tabona. "I am deeply saddened by this ridiculous, silly and inappropriate decision. It should not even have been proposed in the first place," he lamented, adding that the monument in question had after all been sculpted by an Italian for foreign rulers.

One of the three images chosen by the Maltese public will be stamped on one face of the one and two euro coins, another on the 50, 20 and 10 cent coins and another on the five, two and one cent coins. It has not yet been decided which will go where. Malta, which joined the European Union (EU) in 2004, hopes to adopt the single currency in January, 2008. Each member of the 25-member EU is allowed to design one side of the euro coins.

Comment: Sixteenth-century “scouting reports,” offered by the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, regarding the suitability of Malta as a habitation were less than enthusiastic. The island was described as “merely a rock of soft sandstone, about six or seven leagues long and three or four broad. The surface of the rock is barely covered with three or four feet of earth, which is likewise stony, and very unfit to grow corn and other grain... except for a few springs in the middle of the island there is no running water, nor even wells.” But this “rock” would prove to be a jewel to the Catholic world.

The “Great Siege of Malta” occurred in 1565, when Ottoman forces, numbering between 26,000 and 39,000 men, landed on Malta. The heroism and courage displayed by the Maltese forces in the face of the invading Muslim army is legendary. Under Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette, the men of Malta defended their land, even in the face of certain death. The 100 knights and 500 soldiers defending St. Elmo Fort, at the seaward end of Mount Sceberras (now Valletta), held the structure for five weeks, giving their lives to the last man in order to buy time for their fellow Catholic fighters to consolidate the defenses of other forts.

Similar heroism prevailed at St. Michael's fort on the Senglea promontory, where the Knights of Malta destroyed the scaling towers of the Turks both by shooting unexpectedly through openings at the base of the walls and by a hand-to-hand attack through the same openings. Jean Parisot de la Valette, at the age of seventy-one years old, joined in this battle himself.

The Mother of God herself blessed the labors and sacrifices of the Maltese troops. For it is no coincidence that, on September 8, 1565, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Turkish army finally sailed away with only a quarter of its troops intact. In the end, Malta had lost 219 knights and 9,000 inhabitants. The Muslim invaders had lost 7,000 men during the attack of Ft. Elmo alone. Had the Maltese been defeated, Italy, France and Spain would have been subject to Turkish invasion, and  even Queen Elizabeth of England noted that, "If the Turks should prevail against the Isle of Malta, it is uncertain what further peril might follow to the rest of Christendom."

It is somehow fitting that, of all the countries comprising the European Union, this “rock of soft sandstone,” the small Catholic nation of Malta, should be the one to spit in the eye of the world by declaring that she is anything but ashamed of her Redeemer and her Catholic heritage.

Sony Creates Online “Pulpit” for Da Vinci Code Film

The New York Times reports (Feb. 9, 2006) that Sony Pictures has set up a website “that will give a platform to some of the fiercest critics of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, the book that is the movie's source.”

The idea for the website originated with Jonathan Bock at Grace Hill Media, a company that helps studios market movies to religious audiences. The site, thedavincichallenge.com, will provide links to online essays by about 45 writers, scholars and leaders of evangelical organizations who will pick apart the book's theological and historical claims about Christianity. Contributing authors will not be paid. "We believe this is unique and perhaps can set a tone for others," said Jim Kennedy, a spokesman for Sony Pictures. "We've all seen how some movies can evoke great consternation in society in the past, and I think many people want to move towards a more educational and uplifting dialogue."

Among those who have contributed to the website are Gordon Robertson, the son of the television evangelist Pat Robertson and co-host of their television show, "The 700 Club," who is writing about how early Christianity survived; Hugh Hewitt, host of a conservative radio talk show; Darrell L. Bock, a professor of New Testament studies and the author of Breaking the Da Vinci Code; and George Barna, founder of a polling and research firm that focuses on evangelicals.

Another contributor is Richard J. Mouw, the president of Fuller Theological Seminary, a leading evangelical school in Pasadena, Ca. He contributed an essay on, "Why Christians Ought to See the Movie," and said: "It's going to be water cooler conversation, so Christians need to take a deep breath, buy the book and shell out the money for the movie. Then we need to educate Christians about what all this means. We need to help them answer someone who says, 'So how do you know Jesus didn't get married’? "

Although Roman Catholics in particular have objected to The DaVinci Code book, which refers repeatedly to "the Vatican" as the source of the conspiracy, few Catholic writers are on the Web site's lineup, though more have been asked to join. Grace Hill Media talked with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Opus Dei, the conservative Catholic group depicted in the book as a murderous force, about their participation. Charles Colson, the convicted Watergate figure and now a leading evangelical voice, is expected to write about Catholicism.

Sony executives have privately expressed concern over ruffling religious sensitivities with the DaVinci Code film, especially since the studio has simultaneously been courting Christian audiences with films like Left Behind: World at War, a straight-to-video evangelical thriller distributed last year.

Comment: What is wrong with the above story? Suppose a film was made based on a novel which dealt with Abraham Lincoln. The author of the novel decides to make Lincoln a time-traveling alien, whose true identity is being concealed via a conspiracy hatched by the Boy Scouts of America. So far so good. Now, imagine that the studio making this film sets up a website which allows American history scholars to explain why Lincoln was, in fact, not a time-traveling alien. We would shake our heads in disbelief.

Sony Pictures, in the very act of giving its critics an online forum, is subtly perpetuating the idea that the twisted facts offered up in the Da Vinci Code are things to be reckoned with on a serious level. As unbelievable as it sounds, they have created a forum whereby the facts presented in a work of fiction can be debated! It boggles the already-boggled mind. Yes, let us find scholars to prove that Abraham Lincoln was not a time-traveling alien!

While the desire to defend the honor of Jesus Christ is laudable, the contributors to the Da Vinci Code website are, in the end, merely giving free publicity to those who stand to make millions of dollars on the film. For example, take the subject of Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene. There is one source, and one source only, which refutes this lie: the Gospels. Those who embrace Dan Brown’s fictions do so willfully, and because they are drawn to his ideas. Saying “But the Gospels say this” to such airheads will avail nothing, because the very reason they embrace such lies is precisely because the lies run contrary to Truth and Tradition.

Richard J. Mouw’s analysis says it all. He believes that Christians “need to take a deep breath, buy the book and shell out the money for the movie,” so that they will be able to answer someone who asks, “So how do you know Jesus didn't get married?” The Christian market is a huge one (just ask Mel Gibson), and Mouw is suggesting that Christians pour additional millions of dollars into the pockets of those who are peddling the rankest blasphemy and insults to Christ, St. Mary Magdalene and the Church. Why? So a Christian can say, “because it says so in the Bible” to one of the Dan Brown acolytes?

So, which is the more maddening? Those who treat a work of fiction as truth ... or those who claim to know better, joining in?

Update on the Italian “Jesus Trial”

News Max reports (Feb. 10, 2006) that an Italian judge has dismissed an atheist's petition that a small-town priest should stand trial for asserting that Jesus Christ existed. Luigi Cascioli, a 72-year-old retired agronomist, had accused the Rev. Enrico Righi of violating two laws with the assertion, which he called a deceptive fable propagated by the Roman Catholic Church.

The ruling was released on February 9th in Viterbo, a town north of Rome, where the priest is based. Judge Gaetano Mautone said in his decision that prosecutors should investigate Cascioli for possible slander.

"The Rev. Righi is very satisfied and moved," said Righi's attorney, Severo Bruno. "He is an old, small-town parish priest who never would have thought he'd be in the spotlight for something like this."

Cascioli, a former schoolmate of Righi's, said he had not expected the case to succeed in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Italy. “This is not surprising but it doesn't mean it all ends here .... This is an important case and it deserves to go ahead,” he said, adding that he is considering taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Rise of the Neo-Vampires

UPI reports (Feb. 6, 2006) that hot cross buns, currant buns topped with a cross made from icing and traditionally served during the Easter Season, particularly on Good Friday, have been banned from a school in the United Kingdom “for fear the religious symbol drawn on the top of each roll might offend some students.”

The head teacher of the Oaks Primary School in Ipswich, UK, Tina Jackson, has asked her supplier to nix the crosses because they might offend some religious minorities like Jehovah's Witnesses, who are not allowed to worship things of a “pagan” nature. "The cross is there in recognition of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ,” said Jackson, “but for our students who are Jehovah Witnesses, hot cross buns are not part of their beliefs. We decided to ask to have the cross removed in respect of their beliefs."

"All religions have particular traditions, habits and customs and this is one of the traditions of the Church of England," replied Rev. Haley Dossor, Vicar at St. Mary-at-the-Elms Church, who also expressed his opinion that “people in the secular world are scared of religious symbols.”

One parent, who wished to remain anonymous told The Suffolk Evening Star, "I have never heard of anything so ridiculous. Since when have hot cross buns been offensive?"

Albert Berwick, a minister with the Ipswich Cavendish Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, agreed with the schools' new bun policy: "I can understand why the school has done this and I support the decision,” he said. “Hot cross buns are a pagan symbol of fertility no different to bunnies, eggs and Easter. The Bible states we should not worship things of a pagan origin."

Tradition dates hot cross buns back to the year 1361, when a monk reportedly made small spiced cakes stamped with the sign of the cross, to be distributed to the poor visiting the monastery at St. Albans on Good Friday.

Comment: One of the more bizarre aspects of this story is that this is not the first time hot cross buns have come under fire in the United Kingdom. On March 16, 2003, The Daily Telegraph reported that “schools across Britain have been ordered by local authorities to abandon the ancient tradition of serving hot cross buns at Easter so as not to offend children of non-Christian faiths.” Some councils refused to hand out the traditional treats out of “fear that the symbol of the cross will spark complaints from Jewish, Hindu and Muslim pupils or their families.”

Officials in the London borough of Tower Hamlets decided to remove the buns from menus in 2003 after criticism over its decision to serve the traditional meal of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. “We are moving away from a religious theme for Easter and will not be doing hot cross buns,” said a Tower Hamlets spokesman. “We can't risk a similar outcry over Easter like the kind we had on Pancake Day. We will probably be serving naan breads instead." Naan is a traditional Indian flat-bread. Get it? You can’t serve a hot cross bun for Easter, but you can serve a traditional Indian flat-bread.

The Liverpool council told The Telegraph in 2003 that the symbol of the cross had the "potential to offend" and buns would no longer be served to children. However, that would not stop the council from organizing “special menus” to celebrate events as diverse as the Chinese New Year, Italian National Day and Russian Independence Day. Now, the Chinese New Year is an event steeped in religious practice and symbolism, such as the offering of prayers to ancestors and deities, the evicting of bad spirits through the famous Lion Dance, prayers and offerings made to the Jade Emperor, etc. Still, Chinese New Year, for all its religious implications, was “in.” Easter and Good Friday were “out.”

Reactions at the time came from diverse sources. Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, a Roman Catholic convert, described the ban as "appalling and absurd," while a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain called the decision "very, very bizarre," adding that “British Muslims have been quite happily eating and digesting hot cross buns for many years and I don't think they are suddenly going to be offended."

Now, three years later, Tina Jackson, backed by the theological profundities of the Ipswich Cavendish Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, renews the “hot cross bun” assault. Even someone with an appreciation for the surreal has to marvel at a mentality that would wish to legislate pastry, of all things, for fear of a small vanilla-icing cross.

Prehistoric Tomb Unearthed in Rome

National Geographic News reports (Feb. 7, 2006) that “the ashes of an ancient chief or priest who lived three centuries before the legendary founding of Rome have been unearthed in the heart of the city.”

A team of archaeologists with the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Rome Municipality discovered the prehistoric tomb under the sprawling ruins of ancient imperial forums that still lie in the center of modern Rome. Dating from about 1000 B.C., the remains were discovered late January inside a funerary urn at the bottom of a deep pit, along with bowls and jars, all encased in a hut-like box. The size and richness of the tomb suggest that the ashes are the remains of a high-ranking individual.

Archaeologist Alessandro Delfino and colleagues were working just steps away from a traffic-jammed highway in Rome's city center when the discovery was made. They had been excavating the floor of Caesar's Forum, the remains of a square built by Julius Caesar around 46 B.C. There they found heavy stone slabs covering a pit dug in a layer of clay.

"We knew there should be very ancient tombs [at the site]," Delfino said. "We had previously found two graves in the same site. They were small, less than a meter [about 40 inches] deep." The funerary urns and vases in these graves were found uncovered on the bottom of the pits.

Both smaller tombs contained bronze miniatures of spears and shields, "symbolic references to the rank of the dead," said Delfino.

The newly found pit is six feet deep and four feet wide. "It was a great surprise to find a tomb so large and, most of all, the hut-like case," Delfino said. "We didn't find any weapon in this new grave, but we are still searching in the walls of the pit," he continued. "We could find miniatures also in the funerary urn mixed with the ashes."

According to Roberto Meneghini of the Department of Cultural Heritage, several shepherd villages rose on the hills of Rome before the city was founded. "We have evidence of settlements in the area dating back to the 14th century B.C. They were small tribes of a few dozen people. They federated in the eighth century B.C. under the rule of a leader remembered as the legendary Romulus," who, according to tradition, founded Rome around 800 B.C.

The prehistoric tribespeople "probably placed the ashes of the low-rank dead in surface buildings and buried in the ground only the ashes of the notables," Meneghini continued. "We don't have any remains of surface structures, so all the graves we found belong to high-rank people: chiefs or priests. The owner of the tomb just unearthed should be a particularly important person.”