Join the 2025 Bible Reading Challenge - Sign Up Today!
Crosswalk Headlines Formerly ChristianHeadlines
Topics:

Bear Grylls Faces Backlash for Controversial Statement about Mary

Bear Grylls Faces Backlash for Controversial Statement about Mary

British adventurer and best-selling author Bear Grylls recently was criticized for describing Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, as a "Palestinian refugee" in a Christmas message on social media. In a post on X Christmas Day, Grylls delivered a reading from his upcoming book "The Greatest Story Ever Told: An Eyewitness Account," in which he described Mary as a "young, poor, and no doubt terrified Palestinian girl."

"In these next few days, billions of us around the world celebrate the birth of a Middle Eastern refugee who, 2,000 years ago, changed the course of the world forever," he said. The Christian Post reported. 

"Let me tell you some of his story. This is just a short extract from near the beginning of the adventure. When Maryam, a young, poor, and no doubt terrified Palestinian girl, gives birth in a run-down animal pen to a baby who was foretold for hundreds of years," he added. "Yet she was not alone. And she never would be. Because this was the moment that God Almighty broke into our fallen world in person. …To many of us, it is undoubtedly: The Greatest Story Ever Told."

Following Grylls' initial post, the 50-year-old outdoorsman faced backlash from critics, including the Campaign Against Antisemitism, which contended that Mary "was a Jewish woman from Judea, under Roman rule."

"The region wasn't called 'Palestine' until 100 years later when the Judeans (Jews) were exiled, and Emperor Hadrian renamed it Syria Palaestina after the Bar Kokhba Revolt to try to sever the Jewish connection to the land," the group tweeted in response. 

"A lot of people over the millennia since have believed his propaganda. While Mary's family fled to Egypt to escape King Herod's persecution, calling her a 'Palestinian refugee' not only imposes modern terminology on ancient history but completely eradicates her Jewish identity. It's historical nonsense with an agenda. If you want to honor her story, tell it properly."

In an opinion piece for The Telegraph, author George Chesterton warned that referring to Jesus as Palestinian is a historical omission because Jesus was born in Judea during a Roman census, not as a refugee, and the term "Palestine" was coined by the Romans during Jewish uprisings. 

"If you leave aside the theological and historical absurdity — equating a Jewish man from 2000 years ago with a political identity that didn't exist — this is the nub of the problem. It promotes the idea that Jews are systematic baby killers. This is the sort of thing that is screamed at elderly people on the streets of London, Glasgow, and Brighton. That's not something Jesus would have approved of. He was Jewish, after all," he wrote.

Mark Wallace, chief executive of Total Politics, asked: "In what sense — historical, archaeological, political, religious, geographic, ethnic, literally any sense at all — would Mary have regarded herself as a Palestinian?"

Grylls' post also received a community note on X debunking his claim. 

"They were not refugees. Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken. Joseph and Mary traveled to Judea, to the town of Bethlehem (the town of David) because Joseph belonged to the house and line of David."

Grylls responded to the backlash by removing his initial post and re-uploading it, except he removed the word "Palestinian."

"Just as way of a response to all the argument going on here about the area of the world Mary lived in. I referred to this area as Palestine as per the maps you will find in most Bibles," he wrote. "Scholars will always go and back forward debating the technicality of exact dates that various regions became known by their names, but in this case I am simply setting the scene for the Greatest Story Ever Told. I refer to Palestine as the general area that Mary lived in. I am not referring to her nationality or ethnicity. She was clearly Jewish."

"In response to whether Jesus was a refugee, yes he was. Mary, Joseph and Jesus were forced to flee their homeland to live as refugees in the Egyptian desert. They were escaping Herod's decree to kill all the young male babies in Bethlehem. They returned finally four or so years later to their homeland and to Nazareth."

He later added, "And if you think Mary's country of origin is controversial, wait until you read the bulk of what is in The Greatest Story Ever Told! When you read the words of Jesus, you'll discover that is where it gets truly disruptive."

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images

Milton QuintanillaMilton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.