"You can't understand the human race without understanding its passion to have gods." David Marr on religious belief in Australia
Watch interview

 All over red rover: Christianity and the bones of Jesus  

Andrew Cameron

Australians have a saying: “it’s all over, red rover.” We use this saying when something is finished, gone, kaput, dead-as-a-doornail. The rhyme emphasises the finality of the demise, although no one quite knows why the red dog gets a mention.

Christians have another saying. It is not a set form of words, but something like it is said in conversations, literature and pulpits. “I’ll stop believing if they find the bones of Jesus.” It is a view something like that first expressed by the apostle Paul: “if Christ has not been raised, [our] faith is worthless … If we have placed our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.” [1 Corinthians 15:17,19]

So if claims made in the U.S. documentary The Tomb of Christ are correct, then it is definitely all-over-red-rover for Christianity.

Read more