A feature story of a BBC radio program that deals with questions of faith claimed Jesus was "Palestinian."
The BBC World Service program called 'Heart and Soul' aired a feature story called 'Black Jesus' in which the Messiah was repeatedly erroneously described as a "first-century Palestinian Jew."
The host, Robert Beckford, emphasized that the common depiction of Jesus today as a fair-skinned, blonde European is false.
"Seeing Jesus as a darker skinned Palestinian rather than blonde European is both historically accurate and theologically important, but it's not a new idea," Beckford narrated.
"Despite the fact it's more realistic as a first-century Palestinian Jew that Jesus was dark skinned, somehow the white Jesus has become the most popular and accepted image," he added.
While he was correct in saying these things, he gave his audience the wrong information regarding Jesus' background or descent.
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.
In an article found on its website, CAMERA said many people, whether because of political reasons or simply out of ignorance, have inaccurately promoted the idea that Jesus was Palestinian.
However, CAMERA believes Beckford's false claim of Jesus' descent was not because of lack of knowledge, especially when the program's synopsis confidently describes him as "one of the UK's prominent black theologians."
CAMERA says Beckford's claims were not a product of ignorance but were prompted by an agenda.
"One must assume that it is not a lack of knowledge which prompted 'one of the UK's prominent black theologians'-as Beckford is described in the programme's synopsis-to repeatedly promote the anachronistic notion that Jesus was 'a first-century Palestinian Jew,'" CAMERA writes. "In fact, Beckford's political/theological agenda is abundantly clear throughout the programme."
The beginning of the story described the Messiah as "a leading figure in the fight against racism and discrimination."
In line with this notion that basically set the tone for the feature story, Beckford narrates that "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."
CAMERA explained they are not delving into whether Beckford's ideas are right or wrong, as they are focusing only on the inaccuracy of his claims about Jesus.
"While one can of course agree or disagree with Beckford's politics and ideas, this programme's repeated references to Jesus as 'a first-century Palestinian Jew' are clearly inaccurate and misleading to audiences," CAMERA says.
CAMERA had previously corrected the New York Times for a 2008 article that gave the wrong information about Jesus' lineage. The article mentioned Jesus speaking in Aramaic in Palestine.
CAMERA noted that the term "Palestine" was not yet in use during Jesus' time. In fact, it was only 100 years after Jesus' crucifixion that people started using the word.
The Jews fought against the Romans in what is known as the Bar Kochba Revolt. The Romans defeated them, and as punishment for their rebellion, the Romans renamed Judea into "Palestina," which referred to the Philistines, an ancient enemy of the Jews, CAMERA explained. The New York Times edited their article and removed the word "Palestine."
