If I remember correctly, it took Israelis almost half of a century to correct the situation (1991?). Nevertheless, the problem was resolved and the controversy is a thing of the past. So, calling it as such would be relevant if you had written your article some thirty years ago (at least). It’s the same as with crusades — no one in their right mind would lead an active campaign against them in this age (calling them for they were is a different thing). Honestly, if I had info only from your piece, I would have thought that the scrolls are still in exclusive possession of Catholic church, which is obviously not the case.
I’m not familiar with the work of John Allegro, but if you mean his remarks on BBC Radio about Teacher of Righteousness and his martyrdom, I agree with his colleagues that there is nothing in the Copper Scroll that would support anything of his conjectures. Thus I fail to see how Copper Scroll is ground-breaking in terms of religious tradition.
When it comes to Salibi, I commented on the fact that all his arguments you have used were from Koran (sorry, if I missed those that were not). I’m also somewhat familiar with his linguistic gymnastics. Those methods, however, are a very well known technique of all nationalistic historians that argue for national land possession on the basis of twisted etymology. I saw this happen especially in Europe where nationalists (and other fanatics, predominantly fascists) still like to argue who was where first, or in what order the various nations arrived in specific places in order to claim their “lebensraum”. Thus, pointing out Salibi’s pan-arabic bias is hardly ad hominen. It’s just calling a spade a spade.
As for biblical archaeology, you are correct — the Bible basically originated in Levant, not just current-day Israel (therefore I mentioned current-day Israel and Babylon). Anyway, I wholeheartedly recommend you to look into the work of Israel Finkelstein.
I think you are splitting hairs with Jewishness of Pharisees vs. Jesus. Are adherents of all the Christian churches Christians even if their religions sometimes contradict their primary scripture (Bible)? I would say, that the same quote from John would apply to them, too. But since their background is the same (Jesus, more or less the same Bible, similar rituals, etc.), they are all definitely Christians in my book.
Frankly, I still fail to grasp what’s the actual point you are trying to make when it comes to Christianity. Maybe you would be interested to read how egalitarian animistic societies turned into hierarchical ones and how proto-religion got institutionalized in Levant some 6000 years ago.
