New Delhi, India - After protesting the screening of the controversial film The Da Vinci Code last year, the question over how Jesus Christ died and what his relationship with Mary Magdalene is threatening to snowball into a fresh controversy.
Discovery channel has decided not to broadcast the controversial documentary, The Lost Tomb of Christ, on Jesus Christ in India following protests by Christian groups against the broadcasting of the documentary which claims Jesus was buried in Jerusalem and fathered a child named Judah with Magdalene.
Discovery officials say the documentary won't broadcast in India for now.
The documentary, made by Titanic director James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici of Exodus fame claims that the coffins of Jesus and his family have been found at a burial cave in a suburb of Jerusalem, adding that the discovery means Jesus did not rise from the grave - a popular Christian belief, also called the Resurrection.
The two ossuaries said to have been found in a 2,000-year-old tomb in Talpiot Jerusalem in 1980 that may have held the bones of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
The cave in which the coffins were placed was discovered three decades ago by internationally renowned Israeli archaeologist Professor Amos Kloner.
The filmmakers unveiled the artifacts in New York on Monday, to promote a documentary film, laim to have put together DNA and archaeological evidence, as well as evidence found in biblical studies proving the coffins belong to Jesus and his family.
The film by Cameron and Jacobovici depict the years of discovery and research.
The documentary claims that the tomb discovered in 1980 bears names including Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Even though the caskets and the inscriptions were unveiled at a conference, several Biblical experts and anthropologists are still not convinced of their authenticity because names including Mariam, Joseph and Jesus were very common during that period
After its debut in New York, the documentary was schedules to be shown on the international Discovery Channel, Canada's Vision, Channel 4 in Britain and Channel 8 in Israel.