Matt Lauer

"Today" co-hosts Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira informed the world this morning the NBC show had a story that could do no less than completely destroy a pillar of Western civilization.

"A shocking new claim that an ancient burial place may have housed the bones of Christ and a son. This morning a Today exclusive that could rock Christianity to its core," intoned Lauer in the show's opening.

Vieira later chimed in: "There are so few 'wow' stories out there, this is one of them."

(Story continues below)

As WND reported, the Oscar-winning director of "Titanic," James Cameron, claims in a new documentary the discovery of 10 stone coffins in a Jerusalem suburb suggests Jesus was never resurrected.

Cameron's "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" asserts the coffins, discovered in a Jerusalem suburb in 1980, are part of the family crypt of Jesus of Nazareth.

The news watchdog website Newsbusters noted that while "Today" aired some contradictory statements, "for the most part the entire segment ran as a full blown infomercial for Cameron's documentary."

Newsbusters recorded the following exchange, three minutes into the show.

Vieira: "And then we have a potentially amazing story. Have we possibly found the tomb of Jesus Christ? You're looking live at the boxes that could have contained the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. They are in an undisclosed location. There's a news conference later today but we're gonna talk to the filmmakers first, here on the Today show about that discovery."

Lauer: "More research needs to be done but if this turns out to be true this changes everything."

Vieira: "Oh it's a huge story, absolutely."

When the segment finally aired, Vieira said, "While the Bible tells the story of Jesus and his resurrection, this box could show physical evidence that he existed, was buried and that he had a son, Judah."

Vieira noted that this was the central claim of Dan Brown's book "The Da Vinci Code" – that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had a child – which was turned into a movie heavily promoted by the "Today" show.

Vieira concluded the segment telling Cameron, in her interview, the claim is "absolutely fascinating, potentially, I mean, many would argue the biggest story or one of the biggest stories of our lifetime if you are correct."

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Related story:

'Titanic' attack on Resurrection

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