'Protection squad' for Gibson's Jesus (Security detail hired for James Caviezel)

World Net Daily ^ | 3-8-04

[truthandlife]

James Caviezel, who plays Jesus in Mel Gibson's blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ," has reportedly been assigned a security detail to protect him.

"There are some crazy people out there and everything is being done to protect Mel and Jim from physical attack," a source close to executives of Newmarket Films told the London Express.

The paper said Caviezel, a devout Catholic, was being guarded by a "protection squad" amid fears of attacks by "religious fanatics."

According to the report, a mob of protesters has already screamed "anti-Semite" and hurled a bucket of lamb's blood at Gibson in a New York street. Charges of anti-Semitism dogged the filmmaker for months prior to the movie's Feb. 25 opening.

The Express reports Caviezel, 35, and his wife, Kerri, are protected whenever they leave home. Studio executives reportedly are concerned the film's principal figures could be targets for assassination.

Caviezel, who has 20 movies to his credit, told the London paper: "Sadly, any threats have to be taken seriously. It seems a terrible irony to me that this movie has spawned anger and violence. The idea that actors need minders because they portray a man whose mission was to spread the love of God is awful."

As of yesterday, "The Passion of the Christ" had taken in $213,888,740 in U.S. ticket sales and likely is on its way to becoming the highest grossing R-rated film in history.

[af_vet_1981]

I apologize for my testy reply in the last post. I was exasperated needlessly by what I took to be your jumping to conclusions.

It is nothing. I require no apology.

Love the Jewish people. Whenever your heart is troubled, think of Yeshua of Nazareth whom you know as Jesus. Think of Miriam whom you call Mary. Think of Yoseph that you call Joseph. Love the least of their brethren unconditionally.

[DentsRun]

According to the report, a mob of protesters has already screamed "anti-Semite" and hurled a bucket of lamb's blood at Gibson in a New York street.

I don't think this could possibly be true. If this had really happened in NYC, it would be all over the news. There'd be a photo in every paper, on Drudge, on all the news channels. I searched for this on Google News, using several methods. All I really come up with was a semi-hysterical site from India. I wonder if someone is confabulating the PETA protest at Gibson's ranch a couple weeks ago with some picketing and then just "sexed it up" a bit, as they say in Britain.

[af_vet_1981]

I stand against all the filthy and vulgar exhibits masquerading as art to attack the Catholic faith. Giuliani is good man. Scalia is the best man on the Court.

[Victoria Delsoul]

You're right.

I don't know if you've seen this article. It's excellent.

[Kryptonite]

Allow me to correct you. This is what I state myself.

You're an anti-Christian bigot. I figured that out already.

A long and bloody history of Antisemitism has caused Jews to view Christianity with a mixture of fear, suspicion, and skepticism.

You're not after christians in name only - you're after all Christians. I figured that out already as well.

And in your zeal, you've revealed that most Jews agree with you. Thanks.

[Kryptonite]

Interesting articulation. Thank you.

You're right too!

[af_vet_1981]

You're an anti-Christian bigot. I figured that out already.

Hmm. I suppose you've been called names before and that is what you are repeating here.

Sadly enough I don't think the movie has had the effect on you that many had hoped. You seem to have an unhealthy dose of anger which you are channeling toward me and other Jews. You might try seeing the movie again after discussing the depth of your emotions with a godly priest. I wish you well.

[lonevoice]

Religious fanatics?

Yeah, I thought that was odd, too. Weren't the "religious fanatics" supposed to be starting pogroms and vandalizing synagogues?

[ultima ratio]

Look, the fact that Hitler was born a Catholic means nothing to me. He hated Catholicism. And Catholicism had nothing to do with the Holocaust, as far as I'm concerned, except to save countless thousands of Jewish lives. It was the Vatican that printed phony passports, phony baptismal papers, phony documents of safe passage for Jews from all over Europe. It was Pius XII who telephoned the Roumanian dictator and persuaded him to cancel the exportation of 800,000 Jews to death camps; it was he who commanded all Catholic monasteries and convents to hide Jewish refugees, sending out daily convoys of trucks loaded with food for those in hiding, after bribing the Nazi commandant occupying Rome.

The problem I have with the sort of linkage you have just made is that it is just as insulting and bigoted in its way as anything an anti-Semite might hurl at a Jew. Sure there was anti-Semitism in Europe, I don't deny this. But religious hostility is inevitable when people are clanish and of different religions. Catholics in Ireland are hostile to Protestants and vice versa. Do you think Christians are not persecuted in Egypt or Pakistan even today? Do you know that hundreds of thousands of Christians even now are being killed and enslaved in Sudan by Muslims? Do you think the Jews were alone in being persecuted? This is the story of mankind everywhere, of Shiites and Sunnis, of Catholics and Protestants, of Christians and Jews. None of this is unique. The religious wars of the sixteenth century were far more devastating to Christians than to Jews at that time. Hundreds of thousands of people perished.

Yes, the Holocaust in modern times was unique. But you can't rationally make the linkage between genocide and the ordinary frictions between people of disparate cultures that you find everywhere.

[Libertina]

The idea that actors need minders because they portray a man whose mission was to spread the love of God is awful."
Bump and God Bless, James and Mel.

[ultima ratio]

I see by this last post you are a good and kind person. I hope we can part friends.

[Kryptonite]

You admitted anti-Christian bigotry exists, and admitted that you're a anti-Christian bigot, but chose to defend such bigotry as follows:

"It {anti-Christian bigotry] is the result of many centuries of persecution culminating in the Holocaust. Most Jews perceive that Christianity and the Cross did this to us over and over again."

Your perceptions are way off, as anybody would suspect, but your words spoke volumes tonight.

[Dajjal]

bumpus ad summum

[Victoria Delsoul]

CINOs who persist in making Jews the target of their envy, anger, and hatred do not serve G-d.

And I suppose this only applies to CINOs. How about Jews, do Jews serve God when they persist in making Christians the target of their envy, anger and hatred, and blame Christians for any atrocity committed against them, or are Jews immune from sin?

[stands2reason]

Your condescension is nauseating. And I'll second Kryptonite, you are an anti-Christian bigot. And it didn't take this movie for me to figure that out.

Worse, you are a hypocrite. You expect "unconditional love" for all Jews yet you don't show a speck of tolerance of Christians.

[Victoria Delsoul]

He hated Catholicism. And Catholicism had nothing to do with the Holocaust, as far as I'm concerned, except to save countless thousands of Jewish lives.

I find it ironic that to this day, we still are being blamed for the Holocaust as if it was the Catholics fault and hatred toward the Jews that was the cause of such horrible crimes against them. However, Catholics didn't send the Jews to their death in retaliation for Jesus death. Hitler believed they had too much political, economic, and cultural power. Not only Jews died in the Holocaust, but anyone else who didn't fit in.

Hitler's beliefs weren't grounded in the Bible but in Nazism, and no reference to Jesus or the Bible is found in Hitler's Mein Kampf. Hitler hated Jews as well as Christians, and Jesus was a Jew. Documents form the Nuremberg Trials tell us that the Nazi Party was predominantly anti-Christian and the Nazis devised and carried out a systematic and relentless repression of all Christian sects and churches.

[DentsRun]

I find it ironic that to this day, we still are being blamed for the Holocaust as if it was the Catholics fault and hatred toward the Jews that was the cause of such horrible crimes against them. However, Catholics didn't send the Jews to their death in retaliation for Jesus death. Hitler believed they had too much political, economic, and cultural power. Not only Jews died in the Holocaust, but anyone else who didn't fit in.

I too am upset that "The Passion of the Christ" has become another occasion for blaming Christianity for Hitler's attack on the Jews. There were many reasons for the Holocaust but none of them was that Hitler was outraged because "the Jews killed Christ."

[sfRummygirl]

"According to the report, a mob of protesters has already screamed "anti-Semite" and hurled a bucket of lamb's blood at Gibson in a New York street."

WHAT? When the hell did this happen? I didn't even hear about this.
Poor Mel.
You know what's weird about this? Before he even gave this movie a thought, everyone in hollywood said he was a very nice, sweet, good person.

[sfRummygirl]

Oh my God, they have gotten death threats?
Please, world, this has to stop. These men are not bad people.

[sfRummygirl]

I will.