Krauthammer: "Gibson's Blood Libel"

Washington Post ^ | Mar. 5, 04 | Charles Krauthammer

[churchillbuff]

Gibson's Blood Libel

By Charles Krauthammer Friday, March 5, 2004; Page A23

Every people has its story. Every people has the right to its story. And every people has a responsibility for its story. ...[snip]

Christians have their story too: the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Why is this story different from other stories? Because it is not a family affair of coreligionists. If it were, few people outside the circle of believers would be concerned about it. This particular story involves other people. With the notable exception of a few Romans, these people are Jews. And in the story, they come off rather badly.

Because of that peculiarity, the crucifixion is not just a story; it is a story with its own story -- a history of centuries of relentless, and at times savage, persecution of Jews in Christian lands. This history is what moved Vatican II, in a noble act of theological reflection, to decree in 1965 that the Passion of Christ should henceforth be understood with great care so as to unteach the lesson that had been taught for almost two millennia: that the Jews were Christ killers.

[Sabertooth]

in no wise to we need to be treated as if we are some sort of barefoot, toothless evangelical bumpkins rec'ing wisdom at Krauthammer's sophisticated intellectual feet.

Have long since gotten sick of this kind of elitist condescension, and sick and tired of hints at "we might call you antisemite if you don't get back in line."

Yeah, when I'm told to "mind my place," I get antsy.

[ultima ratio]

"You're SSPX, right? You're hardly objective"

On January 18 of last year, the Vatican Pontificia Commisio Ecclesia Dei made this response to a Catholic's query:

"In the strict sense you may fulfill your Sunday obligation by attending a Mass celebrated by a priest of the Society of St. Pius X."

I have posted the entire letter in the past. No need to do so again. You are either very dense--or just like spreading slander. I think it's the latter.

[Just mythoughts]

It's ok, I really don't expect you to follow. Wasn't your statements.... just "urban legend".

[GraniteStateConservative]

They are Jews; they see and are sensitive to things you are not

You're just agreeing with me. They are abandoning truth and logic in favor of their emotions, in favor of their sensitivities.

Gibson has not portrayed himself as ambiguous on the "Jewish" issue. Abe Foxman is a Jewish Jesse Jackson. This wasn't a conspiracy to send people to the theaters. This was a labor of love by Gibson. He could have cared less whether it made him any money, but he knew it would. He knew he'd created something special and that it would resonate with believers. God has blessed him with prosperity from this movie.

[Stewart_B]

Christianity is a religion. Jews are a race. Their cultural heritage and experiences are very different from Christian Americans. Were you ever called a kike. Christ killer? Heeb? Were your grandparents gassed?

I know this, Jesus was Jewish. I also know that he taught to love "God" with all my heart and my brother as my self.

I saw the Passion and felt no urge to go persecute Jews. The feelings I had were ones of shame, that it was "my" sins that caused Jesus to suffer and die.

Anyone who looks on Christs death and suffering so superficially as to place the blame for his death on the nationality of those who were involved in the physical crucifixion has ZERO understanding of what Christianity is even about.

The Jews have been persecuted in times past and have been labeled Christ killers but this was done by people who had the same shallow understanding of Christianity as you do.

Should the bible be destroyed or banned because you don't like what it says? If you read it you will see that the Jews were calling for Jesus' death and that they even said "let his blood be on our heads and that of our children".

You cant have one without the other, either you think the story of Christ death is hateful or you dont. It has nothing to do with Gibsons movie.

[dennisw]

But, Dennis, the historical truth is that Jews handed Christ over to the Romans for the purpose of killing him. Are you denying the historical facts of that reality?

Holy cow! You're blowing it big time. The party line today is that some Jews handed Christ over to the Romans for the purpose of killing him. And I don't deny that certain Jews (Pharisees) helped to kill Christ. Same as I can see Jews being named as and persecuted as Christ killers for centuries.

[GraniteStateConservative]

It's a money movie. And lots of it.

Whatever. We'll agree to disagree. Gibson isn't a money-grubbing schemer. I'm sorry you can't see that.

[sinkspur]

Hiccup!

[RinaseaofDs]

Agree with you completely. I'm not sure what field he's coming out of, but I think all religions could stand a bit of interreligous instruction. What differentiates a Jew from a Christian, a Christian from a Muslim, etc.

It would not be far fetched to project that some Jews take their faith seriously enough to feel personally responsible for the more reprehensible acts in the history of their tradition.

As a Christian, I admit feeling defensive about the Inquisition, for example.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Let's not try to beat them down because they disagree with us.

We beat down idiots all the time here at FR. This isn't DU. You'd not, presumably, stand for such senseless babble if it were coming from Al Sharpton's mouth. Be intellectually honest.

[dennisw]

You're just agreeing with me. They (Jews) are abandoning truth and logic in favor of their emotions, in favor of their sensitivities.

The real emotion fest is Mel Gibson's' PASSION. How the heck has Christianity survived & flourished for centuries without such an in_your_face portrayal of Christ's torture and death?

[NeoCaveman]

LOL.

[Just mythoughts]

"Same as I can see Jews being named as and persecuted as Christ killers for centuries."


"IF" this is what you have claimed there would be no argument, however you have cleaned this up. Up til this statement you used the word CHRISTIANS.

Get it! Christ did not instruct CHRISTIANS to do what you have claimed they "Christians" have done. This accusation will not be hung on Christ. HE never SINNED. MAN is SIN!

[rbmillerjr]

"...Holy cow! You're blowing it big time. The party line today is that some Jews handed Christ over to the Romans for the purpose of killing him. And I don't deny that certain Jews (Pharisees) helped to kill Christ. Same as I can see Jews being named as and persecuted as Christ killers for centuries"

No, I'm not blowing anything. I'm telling the truth. It is you who seems to have a sense of collective guilt. We Christians believe that our sins killed Jesus. That is our theological perspective.

Historically, Jews and Romans killed Jesus. Yes, some Jews are more accurate but rather a technical point when you look at it from the historical perspective.

[dennisw]

I get it and thanks!

[sinkspur]

I don't consider what Krauthammer wrote "senseless babble." It's his opinion, and the opinion of many other well-meaning people.

It's just a movie, GSC. Throwing conservative writers overboard because you disagree with them about a movie is just silly.

[ought-six]

Yup. He is a major gun-banner. Which also surprises me. I find it interesting that the most vocal proponents of citizen disarmament are, for the most part, Jews (Schumer, Feinstein, Boxer, Levin, Krauthamer, et als). One would think that, as Jews, they would be all in support of the right of the people to keep and bear arms (they have that right in Israel, for instance), especially given the history of the Holocaust. No way the Holocaust would have happened had the Jews been able to possess firearms (just look what a few determined Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto did with a handful of guns, almost all of them pistols). That they want to disarm the American people, just as Hitler disarmed the Jews and everyone else who wasn't a Nazi (and then, most civilian Nazis were eventually disarmed, as well), and thus render the American people as defenseless as the Nazis victims, is incomprehensible to me. The agenda of the gun-grabbers is clear: They want to eliminate the America people's means of resistance to tyranny, so that they, as tyrants, should not have to worry about their own safety, and the people be damned. Sic semper tyrannis!

[Doctor Don]

Dr K and other jews don't get it....because they are not believers. Mel Gibson held the spikes and used the hammer to show the world that his sins (and mine) killed Jesus. Deep within the jewish psyche is a strain of paranoia, understandable by me, that they do not recognize or deal with.

[churchillbuff]

These discussions have been a real eye-opener - - not just for me, I'm sure. Your FR homepage has a US flag and a lot of statements to imply "we're all in this together" against the Moslems. But now it comes out that you really resent - - may I say despise - - Christianity, the faith of most of the Americans who are fighting Islamic extremists.

[GraniteStateConservative]

I don't buy this new speculationg about the Jews not needing conversion.

"All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" --Romans 3:23

"The wages of sin is death" -- Romans 6:23

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" -- John 3:16

When did this become debatable?