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NEW YORK — ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas concedes her network is stepping into a theological minefield with its one-hour exploration of whether Jesus Christ had a wife. The ABC News special, "Jesus, Mary and DaVinci," is scheduled to air Monday at 8 p.m. ET. "You can't talk about this subject without intriguing people or offending people," Vargas said Thursday. "We're trying to do it as respectfully as we can." ABC screened the special for some reporters and religious leaders on Thursday. The program is based on the best-selling novel, "The DaVinci Code," which claims to be partly grounded on...

The Steilacoom woman pointed to biblical stories as evidence: Mary anointed Jesus in a wedding nuptial and was the first person the resurrected Christ appeared to. "I believe that the Gospels portray Jesus and Mary Magdalene as a couple," Starbird said. "They were married."

A faded fragment of papyrus known as the “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife,” which caused an uproar when unveiled by a Harvard Divinity School historian in 2012, has been tested by scientists who conclude in a journal published on Thursday that the ink and papyrus are very likely ancient, and not a modern forgery. Skepticism about the tiny scrap of papyrus has been fierce because it contained a phrase never before seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife...’ ” Too convenient for some, it also contained the words “she will be able to be my disciple,”...

Bart Ehrman, prolific author, New Testament scholar and former evangelical Christian, says it took him eight years to research and complete his new book, How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. Yet, a group of fellow scholars responded in their book, How God Became Jesus, by claiming that the Christian-turned-agnostic's "sloppy" scholarship on Jesus' divinity leaves much to be desired. Ehrman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, says his research reveals that Jesus, a first century Galilean, never claimed to be God, and that it...

I’m not one of those twelve million readers who bought the book “Heaven is For Real” and torpedoed it to the New York Times’ Bestseller List. But I did check it out from the library and enjoyed both the story and the accounts of heaven. “Heaven is for real” is, in fact, only one among the many testimonies of near death experiences I’ve heard about from both Christians and non-Christians. With some suspect exceptions, most of the descriptions of heaven are fascinating and inspire me to work hard to aim for the ultimate prize. But that’s just the good news.On...

An aerial view of the Old City of Jerusalem. An organization of Israeli temples is preparing priests for the the reconstruction of the city's historic third temple. On April 10, at 5 p.m., hundreds of Jews will gather at the Maimonides rabbinical institution plaza in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood in Jerusalem and start learning the Jewish laws of Passover. Rabbis and experts, including Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, the head of the Temple Institute in the Old City of Jerusalem, the leading body preparing for the establishment of the third temple, will teach the audience the laws of the Passover sacrifice. Alongside Ariel, the ritual...

Dr. Adam Bradford believes third Gospel was originally a legal document. He says it was written by Luke, a Greek physician, as a letter of support for St Paul who was imprisoned for the political crime of supporting Jesus. Details about Jesus' childhood could only have come from Mary, he claims. He argues feminine words in the scripture give away the true author.

The internet has been abuzz with intriguing headlines announcing that scholars have determined that the so-called “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife” papyrus is “authentic” and that there is “no forgery evidence” in the manuscript. What exactly does this mean? And should Christians be concerned that a new discovery might contradict the biblical account and undermine their faith? Actually, the report from scholars working with the Harvard Divinity School found that the manuscript is much younger than previously thought – in other words, it is even further removed from the time of the New Testament than scholars originally believed – meaning that,...

In 2012, Harvard researcher Karen King revealed the "Gospel of Jesus' Wife." A small piece of papyrus, the lightly worn document was written in Coptic Egyptian, with parts missing and ink faded, and didn't say much. But what it did say, wrote Ariel Sabar in Smithsonian Magazine two years ago was enough to “send jolts through the world of biblical scholarship—and beyond.” The fragment’s 33 words, scattered across 14 incomplete lines, leave a good deal to interpretation. But in King’s analysis, and as she argues in a forthcoming article in the Harvard Theological Review, the “wife” Jesus refers to is probably Mary Magdalene, and Jesus...

Michael Hathaway, author of 10 books on psychic development, past lives, regression, hypnosis and spirituality, and a board certified Past Life Regression Therapist is one of the most respected hypnotists in the country. He published a book entitled, “It’s Time to Simplify Your Soul’s Code”, an easy how-to guide for discovering our unique special purpose and to enrich our life experience by delving into the aspects of higher self and soul contracts. In this book, Mr. Hathaway emphasizes the source energy of the loving universe as a means to connect to our divine purpose as incarnated souls. He brilliantly describes...

A book titled “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe“ has stirred up the Internet, because it contained a notion that life does not end when the body dies, and it can last forever. The author of this publication, scientist Dr. Robert Lanza who was voted the 3rd most important scientist alive by the NY Times, has no doubts that this is possible.[...]The theory implies that death of consciousness simply does not exist. It only exists as a thought because people identify themselves with their body. They believe that the body is...

January 21, 2014 - In the not-so distant past, institutions were trusted and valued as important parts of a functioning society—from government, corporations and schools to marriage and even organized religion. Yet trust in institutions is quickly giving way to a nation of cynics. New Barna research reports that Americans are ranking their confidence in institutions at abysmal levels. And this institutional skepticism comprises a significant backdrop for the major faith and culture trends of 2014... During 2013 alone, citizens lamented the failure of their leaders and institutions. From the government shutdown to Pope Francis' public callout of the Vatican...

I'm proud of my daughter, but I can't deny that she stopped us in our religiously disinterested, bleeding-heart liberal tracksFor decades, god and religion have played no part in my life. I was baptised as a baby, but didn't make it as far as first communion. That may officially make me a Catholic in the broadest sense, but if it does, I'm one who's not so much "lapsed" as "stalled before I started". Apart from morning assemblies and weekly hymn practices at primary school, followed by a couple of years of religious education classes at comprehensive (which I dropped as...

On Tuesday 7 January, Coptic Orthodox Christians – who comprise 90 percent of Egypt's Christians – will break their 43-day fast and celebrate Christmas. The festival comes almost two weeks after most Western denominations, including Catholics and Protestants, held their celebrations on 25 December. Ahram Online asked Bishop Abram of the Fayoum Diocese to explain why there was a difference in the dates; he stressed that the difference in fact results from the use of different calendars, not from any underlying theological dispute. Although the exact date of Jesus' birth was -- and remains -- unknown, within the first few...

Sacred Art Class at TMC by David Clayton on December 30, 2013 A chance to learn sacred art whatever your level, and to subsidise TMC students so that they can attend for free. I will teach this and it is offered free to Thomas More College students (who have to pay just the standard weekly charge for room and board in the dorm. Even though I am Artist in Residence at the college it is difficult for the students to get intensive tuition. To learn art properly needs blocks of time and this is difficult to organise in the packed...

How can this thing be divine?!? The Pentateuch, if divine, is full of mistakes from the very first word (we're talking Hebrew here...the basis of the Greek/Latin/English translations everyone in the world uses.) How could that be? Example: In the beginning G-d created, in the Hebrew version, is actually literally "In the beginning OF... G-d created" There are thousands of examples of the Pentateuch making no sense in its grammar or syntax. So how do we know how to interpret it even on a literal level? Well... behold, the Oral Torah... The link is to an hour-long class (in English...

Scientists excavating within the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini, Nepal, have unearthed a timber structure that they date to the sixth century BCE. It is situated within and underlies a temple that is considered sacred to many as the birthplace of Siddhārtha Gautama, or Buddha. Until now, there has been no archaeological evidence supporting a date any earlier than the third century BCE for Buddha's life. Some historians have suggested the death of Buddha took place sometime in the late 4th century or early 3rd century BCE, although there are a number of traditions...

They unearthed a 6th Century BC timber structure buried within the Maya Devi Temple at Lumbini in Nepal. The shrine appears to have housed a tree. This links to the Buddha nativity story - his mother gave birth to him while holding on to a tree branch. Its discovery may settle the dispute over the birth date of the Buddha, the team reports in the journal Antiquity. Radiocarbon Every year thousands of Buddhists make a holy pilgrimage to Lumbini - long identified as the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha. Continue reading the main story Lumbini Located in...

Religion is one of the most divisive forces in the world's history. Maps of War is a website that creates fascinating visuals of the world to show how movements spread, wars begin and civilizations fall. They have turned their expertise to religion, focusing on five major faiths to see how they have spread and how wars have determined the influence and stronghold of various religions in a 90-second video. Beginning with the birth of Krishna, the time-lapse video covers 5,000 years of religion. The map slows down for the births of key religious figures and major wars, showing the decline...

Most scientists would probably say that the concept of an afterlife is either nonsense, or at the very least unprovable. Yet one expert claims he has evidence to confirm an existence beyond the grave—and it lies in quantum physics. Professor Robert Lanza claims the theory of biocentrism teaches that death as we know it is an illusion created by our consciousness. … Biocentrism is classed as the theory of everything and comes from the Greek for “life center”. It is the believe that life and biology are central to reality and that life creates the universe, not the other way...