In the article, Stephen Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University, said that in the last two centuries, "Jesus was gradually liberated from the church, from the creeds and church traditions. Once He got on Broadway and into the movies, He's now out in popular culture."

Prothero also noted that Jesus is "the man nobody hates … and that's surprising because religion itself is controversial."

The article went on to explain the difference between Jesus as "everyone's favorite teddy bear" and Jesus as the Christ.

"There is always the 'Jesus vs. Jesus Christ' argument," said Mary Hess, assistant professor at Luther Seminary in St. Paul. "Jesus is the drop-me-through-the-goal-posts friend in my pocket. But if you take seriously the Gospels about who He is, there's very little there to suggest He's just a kind friend."

Read the full article at: http://startribune.com/stories/614/4939065.html.

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