The lack of sophistication in the reporting on the Gospel of Judas has been nothing short of astounding. For instance, in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer there is an inane story asking the proverbial man (and woman) in the pew how the “news” that Judas may not have betrayed Jesus after will affect their faith. Most of the people are admirably skeptical and dismissive of the importance of it, except for one lapsed-Catholic-turned-atheist who darkly intones that “the Catholics won’t like this.” Call in Opus Dei! Time for another cover-up! Where’s Dan Brown when you need him?

Very little attempt in the story to put any of this in context, explain what gnosticism is or why orthodox Christianity regards it as heretical. And then we get this stellar quote from The Rev. Beverly Dale, of the Christian Association at the University of Pennsylvania (which is the liberal/progressive campus Christian group):

“It points to the need for every generation to find their own meaning of the good news,” she said. “This can shake loose those who want to keep Christianity in a rigid box. If your faith can’t be pushed or be tested, it’s not much of a faith.”

Now, in fairness to Pr. Dale, this quote may well have been taken out of context, but couldn’t she have made some effort to say something like “It points to the need of every generation to substitute its own spurious ‘revelation’ for the mercy and love of God revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God”? Nah, that’d probably be asking too much.