Posted on 02/03/2004 9:04:52 AM PST by missyme
In a recent interview for a Christian television network about his film "The Passion of the Christ," director Mel Gibson, complaining about his critics, repeated the following phrase four times: "He is an anti-Semite" - suggesting this was the accusation repeatedly being made against him.
We have never accused Gibson of being an anti-Semite. But judging from the E-mails and letters we have received since we spoke out after seeing the film last month - some blatantly anti-Semitic, many more suggesting our criticism was somehow dishonest - there is a need to clear the air.
First, let us repeat that we do not believe that Gibson intended his film to be a passion of hate. Our concerns stem from history. For nearly 2,000 years, Jews have been the victims of persecution and pogroms fueled by the age-old canard that Jews bear responsibility for the death of Jesus for all time.
The charge of "deicide" or of Jews as being "Christ killers" has persisted through the presentation of Passion plays despite the Catholic Church's historic Vatican II pronouncement in the early 1960s. It denounced anti-Semitism and stated clearly that the Jews of the past, as well as the Jews of today, bear no responsibility for Jesus' death.
Gibson's film rejects the modern church reforms. We were saddened and pained to find that "The Passion of the Christ" unambiguously portrays Jews as being responsible for the death of Jesus.
We are shocked that Gibson has not fulfilled his promise to remove the most troublesome aspects of this film. We are especially concerned with a scene in which a mob of Jews who are present when Pontius Pilate condemns Jesus to death calls down a blood curse (Matthew 27:25). This scene so far remains intact, even though Gibson indicated that he was removing it.
Even if that particular scene were removed, there would still be ample material in the film to reinforce the image of Jewish responsibility.
We are troubled that Gibson continues to spurn our requests for an audience and that he feels the criticism of his film is part of a campaign to label him an anti-Semite. Gibson's only response to our numerous requests for a meeting was a brief letter, sent last week, in which he failed to address any of the concerns we have raised.
Our concern is that the images could be used by those who are disposed toward hatred to harden their hearts.
Jewish and Christian leaders have not given up hope. We have urged Gibson to consider adding to the movie a postscript with him coming on screen at the end to implore his viewers not to let the film turn some toward a passion of hate.
Yes, I will say 6 million. If you are looking for a Jew-hater or a holocaust denier you have not found one.
I'll take that as a statement you do not think a Catholic baptism makes a person a christian, in which case by that definition Adolph was a pagan/heathen/gentile [whatever term you prefer for accuracy].
Yes, that is correct. If infant baptism alone makes one a Christian, then circumcision alone makes one a Jew.
No, I think your emotions are getting the better of you and you are jumping to conclusions that I am not proposing. I am interested in the people who committed the atrocities, much as the movie is interested in the people who betrayed Yeshua. What religion did the people who committed the atrocities belong to, not according to you, but according to themselves or conventions at the time ?
If you say pagan simply because they were ungodly atrocities then we lose some historical accuracy. If you contend that the Holocaust was carried out by pagans, was the Inquisition also carried out by pagans, the Crusades ?
I can live with whatever definition you wish to use as long as it is consistent.
I am perfectly willing to accept the truth that some Jews were responsible for the betrayal and death of Yeshua of Nazareth. They were either willingly involved or did nothing to stop it. I hold the Romans primarily responsible for the deed but the Jews should have protected him and never delivered him to the Gentiles.
Okay, that was not so hard. Six million it was then.
The commonly accepted definition of a Jew is someone born of a Jewish mother or anyone who converts. As for me, I think anyone persecuted as a Jew is good enough to be a Jew.
Sorry if you thought my remarks were directed toward you. I was making only a general statement.
I am not anti-Christian. I wish far more nominal Christians were religious.
I wish so too. Jesus never taught against "the Jews" although he condemned the leadership of that time. From the cross he forgave those who crucified him which means that if indeed "the Jews" should be blamed for his death, then Jesus forgave them when he said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." True Christians do not hold Jews responsible for Christ's death.
As for a breakdown of dialogue, that is exactly what Foxman wants.
Yes it is what he wants. That's what makes HIM sanctimonious.
Astute point
Ungodliness in Jacob will not prevent the coming (or return if you will) of the Messiah.
Good. I don't want to find one. Why would I wish that on myself or anyone else ? I wish there were none of them.
Okay Dataman, here is your chance to shine.
I'll let you handle this one.
I appreciate your interest in accuracy. The inquisition was carried out by some Spanish Jesuits. If the Jesuits were circumcised, we cannot say they were Jews. (If a Nazi or two was baptized, we cannot say they were Christians.)The Jesuits were not bent on the destruction of Christianity. (Hitler was bent on the destruction of Christianity.) The Jesuits may have been born pagan but were acting as Jesuits. (Hitler may have been born into a "Christian" family but was acting as a pagan.)
This really isn't hard to understand.
No, I think your emotions are getting the better of you and you are jumping to conclusions that I am not proposing.
Your implications were clear. Perhaps you could explain the purpose of your questions if they were innocent?
I would like the context of the ADL's criticisms of the movie to be seen in the context of the systematic persecution for almost 17 centuries by people who thought of themselves as christian. The fears of the ADL are grounded in historical facts. They arise out of a paranoid, but real, threat to Jewish existence.
That's the point..."historical fact." "Christians," I would hope, are not as narrow-minded as they once were in in thinking that Jews were totally responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. They were instruments, but not the cause. We are ALL the cause. As mentioned earlier: It was my hand on the hammer and my sin on His shoulders.
Foxman doesn't get it. Maybe he's just afraid Jews will go to the movie & get converted. Doubt it, but it's possible.
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