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The New York Times Has No Idea What Christianity Is

Tristyn Bloom Contributor
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While The New York Times has been getting flak for calling Scandal showrunner Shonda Rhimes an “angry black woman” last week, a much bigger misstep has been almost totally ignored.

In an article about declining Israeli tourism in the wake of this summer’s renewed violence, Jerusalem correspondent Matthew Kalman wrote that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher marks the site “where many Christians believe that Jesus is buried.”

 

Close, but no cigar! While the Times correctly recalled that Christians do believe Jesus died (one might even say “was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried”), they stopped reading the Creed a bit too soon–skipping over the whole “and the third day he rose again” bit. Christians commemorate Christ’s rising from the dead on Easter, an obscure holiday celebrated by just over 2 billion people throughout the world.

Christianity is also the largest religion in the United States, with nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population identifying as Christian.

Kalman, former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Report, graduated from Cambridge University with a Master’s in History, and has been based in Jerusalem since 1998.

The Times eventually corrected its online edition to read “Jesus was buried,” although, as the Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway pointed out, it did not make note of the correction. “A hint that’s good for journalists confused on the matter,” she said. “Is to consider the church also goes by the name ‘The Church of the Resurrection.'” (RELATED: Times Nixes Anti-Islam Ad, Runs Anti-Catholic Ad)

This is far from an isolated incident at the Times. Just last year it had to print the following apology: “An earlier version of this article mischaracterized the Christian holiday of Easter. It is the celebration of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead, not his resurrection into heaven.” Christians believe that Christ rose from the dead three days after his burial, but did not ascend into heaven until forty days after his resurrection.

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