Amidst all the hoopla over the past couple of weeks about the alleged discovery of the tombs of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, James Cameron–the “Titanic” director who produced the documentary “The Jesus Family Tomb”–offered this gem of a comment: Grasping to explain the statistical improbability of finding these names together in one family tomb, Cameron said: “If you found a John, a Paul and a George, you’re not going to leap to any conclusions… unless you found a Ringo.”

In our celebrity-obsessed culture, it seems, you really do need to invoke the gods of pop-culture to explain just about anything–even an archaeological claim about Jesus himself. Somewhere, John Lennon is feeling vindicated for his much-maligned comment that the Beatles are more popular than Jesus.