Ben Hur was written in 1880, long before our Masters of Western Civ corrupted things. Author Wallace, in his memoirs, said
The Christian world would not tolerate a novel with Jesus Christ its hero, and I knew it ... He should not be present as an actor in any scene of my creation. The giving a cup of water to Ben-Hur at the well near Nazareth is the only violation of this rule ... I would be religiously careful that every word He uttered should be a literal quotation from one of His sainted biographers
A wonderful HOOSIER fella!