Ravi Zacharias on the Incomparable Jesus

In his most recent interview, Ravi Zacharias highlighted the peculiar attitude that people (in the West) have towards Jesus, which goes to show the uniqueness of, as his book title suggests, "Jesus among other gods". The entire interview transcript can be found here, but here are two paragraphs which grab my attention:

Q: Why do you call "Jesus Among Other Gods" your most significant book?

A: There was no life so impeccably lived as His. There are those who've claimed prophetic status who have led pretty heavily duplicitous lives. But in Christ, you never see that. You never find Him in any compromising situation that shows itself where He was driven by the sensuality of the moment. After 2000 years, no name has been scrutinized more, none abused or challenged more in the public media.

I find a lot of Western journalists intellectually cowardly here. They would never do with Mohammed what they do with Jesus. They don't have the courage to do that. If the major magazines — Time, Newsweek or U.S. News and World Report — did with Mohammed on one of their major festivals what they do to Jesus on Christmas or Easter, they probably wouldn't be in existence any more.

Q: What has been your experience on American campuses?

A: If I speak on Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam or whatever, I am quite free to do it without any repercussions. But if you speak on the Christian faith, somebody is going to question why you are there. You talk to any Christian campus group on any major campus and they'll tell you about the intimidation there.

It's sad. I lived in India, then in Canada and then I've come here. America seems to take a hit for everything it does. But worse can be done in other parts of the world and it will be done with impunity. For instance, racism: I could take you to parts of the world today where racism is horrible, blatant. The same people who will tell you that, are the ones who will take us to task. I will tell you what is hidden under all of this. I believe because we live under the outworking of a Christian worldview, we are willing to face the self-criticism and scrutiny. Other worldviews are not willing to lend themselves to that.