Easter Viewing

This article first appeared in the Age on April 10, 2004

There is a terrific gift shop down the road from me that sells little Elvis- Jesus's. Elvis and Jesus, as Easter television shows, share a common fate. Not everyone believes they are dead, and both - along with Marilyn Monroe and the Kennedy family - seem to inspire endless conspiracy theories.

Last week Compass (ABC, Sunday, 10.00pm) screened a documentary Who Killed Jesus? that included little pantomimes that enacted the evidence against Caiaphas, High Priest of the Temple at Jerusalem; Pontius Pilate; and Jesus himself. This Easter Sunday the religion keeps on rolling and the plot keeps getting thicker when Compass asks the question it should have asked in the first place. Did Jesus Die? This terrific documentary explores the possibility that the resurrection was merely resuscitation and Jesus didn't go to heaven, but the south of France or Kashmir - both unarguably heavenly locations.The Kashmir version is an extension of the legend that Jesus is Buddha's reincarnation, which is the sort of thing I love, but others may find wacky. There are interviews with an intelligent range of historians, including Peter Stanford, who articulate the real issue: 'To start debating whether bones in a tomb matter or whether it [the resurrection] actually happened completely misses the point of Christianity.'

A documentary which certainly misses the point is The Quest for the True Cross (Sunday, SBS, 8.30pm). In the Roman Church of Santa Croce there is a piece of wood inscribed with the remains of the line: 'Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews'. Is it, or is it not, the headboard from the cross to which Jesus was nailed? In theory this is an interesting question, but the details unfold with the speed of a camel trek. The Quest exhibits the cultural anxiety that simmers away through all this Sunday's TV: if science can prove so many facts, where does that leave the myth, allusion and story telling, that is the basis for - and beauty of - so much religion? This desire to establish the facts behind religious myths results in a kind of fundamentalism that suggests biblical stories need to be literally true to have force. I would have thought religion and the inspiration it can provide was bigger than that.

Also on Easter Sunday, SBS screens the first of the six-part Heaven on Earth (7.00pm). Compare Christy Keneally travels 14 countries to take us to the sacred sites and artworks of the world's major religions: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Paganism and Hinduism. This beautifully shot series is as much about art and travel as it is about religion and this week it visits some of the earliest outposts of Christianity starting in Ireland, moving onto Rome, Constantinople and Barcelona as well as visiting the underground churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia.

If you're more into the Kennedy cult than Christianity, watch Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: A life (Sunday, Channel 7, 8.30pm), a telemovie of her life based on Donald Spoto's biography. And what of those who claim Elvis isn't dead? Well, to quote his daughter who was interviewed on Enough Rope (ABC, Monday, 9.30pm) three weeks ago: 'I have no idea. I really don't.' Not knowing, but getting on with life anyway - now that's what I call a religious statement.

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