{"id":112182,"date":"2020-12-30T20:35:22","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T18:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefreethinker\/?p=112182"},"modified":"2020-12-30T21:38:44","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T19:38:44","slug":"media-watchdog-blasts-bbc-over-black-palestinian-jesus-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefreethinker\/2020\/12\/media-watchdog-blasts-bbc-over-black-palestinian-jesus-programme\/","title":{"rendered":"Media watchdog blasts BBC over ‘Black Palestinian Jesus’ programme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

YOU learn something new every day. Via Christianity Daily<\/em><\/span><\/a> I\u2019ve discovered the existence of a right-wing Jewish media monitoring outfit<\/span><\/a> called The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA). <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cpro-Israel media advocacy and lobbying group\u201d has a branch in Britain \u2013 Camera UK<\/a> \u2013 and right now it\u2019s pissed because the BBC World Service is currently broadcasting a programme <\/span>called \u201cBlack Jesus<\/a>\u201d in it\u2019s \u2018Heart and Soul\u2019 faith-based series.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Image via Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fact that the presenter, Robert Beckford<\/a>, above, Professor of Theology and Culture in the African Diaspora at the Canterbury Christ Church University<\/span>, asserted that Jesus was Black was not the source of CAMERA\u2019s anger. What got up it\u2019s nose was the fact that Beckford called Jesus a \u201cPalestinian.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said:<\/p>\n

Seeing Jesus as a darker skinned Palestinian rather than blonde European is both historically accurate and theologically important, but it\u2019s not a new idea.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Christianity Daily<\/em> pointed out that:<\/p>\n

While he was correct in saying these things, he gave his audience the wrong information regarding Jesus\u2019 background or descent.<\/em><\/p>\n

The error was pointed out by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America UK (CAMERA UK), an organization that fact checks the British media in order to promote accurate and fair information about Israel.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CAMERA itself says<\/a>:<\/p>\n

One must assume that it is not a lack of knowledge which prompted \u2018one of the UK\u2019s prominent black theologians\u2019 \u2013 as Beckford is described in the programme\u2019s synopsis \u2013 to repeatedly promote the anachronistic notion that Jesus was \u2018a first-century Palestinian Jew\u2019. <\/em><\/p>\n

In fact, Beckford\u2019s political\/theological agenda is abundantly clear throughout the programme, which begins by describing Jesus as \u2018a leading figure in the fight against racism and discrimination\u2019 \u2026. in reality Jesus was a refugee whose family had to flee North Africa due to persecution. He was one of the oppressed by the colonisers of his day.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Earlier this year, when The New York Times<\/em> referred to \u201cfirst-century Palestine\u201d, CAMERA pointed out that:<\/p>\n

During the time of Jesus, Bethlehem and Jerusalem were in what was commonly called Judea and Nazareth was in what was commonly called the Galilee. The land where Jesus lived did not take on the name Palestine until the second century, well after his death. Thus, the notion of \u2018first-century Palestine,\u2019\u00a0 is totally fictional.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When I read of this little kerfuffle, my initial reaction was that it was far too silly to merit writing about.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, what seized my attention is that CAMERA was once known as UK Media Watch \u2013 and I immediately associated it with an organisation started by Christian fanatic Mary Whitehouse<\/a>, above, who was Britain\u2019s Nanny-in-Chief for more than three decades.<\/p>\n

She had some pretty weird friends and supporters, among them the ghastly Margaret Thatcher, the sadomasochistic evangelical barrister John Smythe<\/a> and the notorious paedophile Jimmy Savile<\/a>, upon whom she bestowed an award<\/a> \u2013 to celebrate wholesome family entertainment!<\/em><\/p>\n

The \u201cmoral crusader,\u201d who died in 2001, fought tooth and nail to remove all the \u201cfilth\u201d that atheists, homosexuals and \u201clefties\u201d were imposing on radio, theatre productions and TV, among them Doctor Who<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s most famous for successfully bringing a blasphemous libel action against Gay News.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Then I realised that Whitehouse\u2019s outfit was called Media-Watch UK<\/a>, not to be confused\u00a0 Mediawatch<\/a>, which was a hugely entertaining column written by long-time friend Terry Sanderson<\/a> that ran in\u00a0Gay Times<\/em> for almost 25 years from 1983.<\/p>\n

Sanderson, a past President of the National Secular Society, noted in 1984<\/a> that:<\/p>\n

The Daily Mirror reports that Mrs Mary Whitehouse won \u2018substantial\u2019 libel damages against the Observer because it published an extract from a book which said \u2018she was the sort of person who would have been at home in Nazi Germany.\u2019 I, of course, have nothing to add.
\n<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That was a pretty accurate assessment of the woman by\u00a0Sir Hugh Greene, Director-General of the BBC in the 1960s. After a visit to South Africa, she praised the apartheid system, saying that all the \u201csmiling Black people\u201d she saw were among the most contented folk she\u2019d ever come across.<\/p>\n

In 2006, Sanderson wrote:<\/a><\/p>\n

When Mary Whitehouse used to say, \u2018I don\u2019t like sex on the television\u2019, the traditional response was, \u2018Well, why don\u2019t you try it on the kitchen table, then?. If she were alive today, she\u2019d be turning in her grave. Sex on the television? When isn\u2019t there sex on the television? I\u2019m waiting for the first dogging session on Teletubbies \u2013 during which Tinky-Winky can let us know once and for all what exactly that handbag represents.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One of Whitehouse\u2019s notable accomplishments was to inspire the formation of the Gay Humanist Group<\/a>, of which I was a founder member.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Please report any typos\/errors to barry@freethinker.co.uk<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

If you\u2019d like to buy me a cup of coffee \u2013 and boy, do I get through a LOT<\/em> of coffee keeping this site active \u2013 please click the link below.<\/h3>\n

\"I'dI\u2019d love a cup of coffee<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

YOU learn something new every day. Via Christianity Daily I\u2019ve discovered the existence of a right-wing Jewish media monitoring outfit called The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA). The \u201cpro-Israel media advocacy and lobbying group\u201d has a branch in Britain \u2013 Camera UK \u2013 and right now it\u2019s pissed because the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3705,"featured_media":112195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7266,171,2748,7275,7278,7237,7269,7272],"class_list":["post-112182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-camera","tag-jesus","tag-mary-whitehouse","tag-media-watch-uk","tag-mediawatch","tag-palestine","tag-robert-beckford","tag-uk-media-watch"],"yoast_head":"\nMedia watchdog blasts BBC over 'Black Palestinian Jesus' programme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"YOU learn something new every day. 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