[cwb]

While I'm not happy with the interpretation from some of these conservatives, I must say that I've noticed that "The Passion" has obviously become a hot topic even among those who normally agree with each other. And while civil debate is welcome, I do believe that some liberals have intentionally ratcheted up the heated rhetoric in order to provoke a more unreasonable response from those on the Christian right.

With Bush's recent success at appealing to those within the Jewish community, I believe that "some" people are using this movie to exploit age-old prejudices and to drive a wedge between Jews and Christians (especially consevatives) who have found some common ground in recent years.

Unfortunately, because of these deep rooted beliefs, some of this rhetoric is working as each side is digging in to defend its position. Just remember that there are those baiters out there who are hoping for this, so they can go back to portraying the Republican Party as the party of intolerant Christians...and scare away any potential Jewish support.

[Burkeman1]

Baiters? No one baited Frum, Krauthammer, Jacoby, Safire and others. They have insulted virtually every Christian other than Unitarians who can't even really be called Christian anyway. From their reviews they A) Showed a total lack of understanding of what the Passion even means to Christians much less that it is THE CENTRAL EVENT for most every sect Protestant to Chatholic! And B) the underlying assumption that Christians are knuckle dragging morons who are going to start murdering Jews and hunting them down after the viewing of such a film that defines what we believe is quite frankly too much to bear.

My fear is not that this film will cause anti semitism. It is the ignorant, arrogant, and sickening slander on the part of a thin slice of Jewish Americans that will.

[beaversmom]

This is from Michael Medved's appearance on the 700 club recently. He basically said the same thing you are saying.

http://700club.com/cbnnews/news/040223e%2Easp

ROBERTSON: You said this movie is like a speeding freight train coming down the track with its headlights on, and they are standing up there with a little stop sign. Why? It makes no sense.

MEDVED: I’ll tell you what part of it is, Pat. You and I very well know that there has been an increasingly strong coalition between committed Jews and committed Christians, to defend the United States, to defend the values that we care about, to defend the traditional family, and to defend Israel. And there are people in this country, particularly on the Left, who don't like that, who are very suspicious of it. And so this has been used, it seems to me in a very political way, by certain people on the Left to try to drive Jews and Christians apart. And it is our job, particularly those of us in the Jewish community, to not allow that to happen. This movie is an affirmation of Christian faith, and I am one of those Jews who believes that the more Christian America there is, the better it is for America, and the better it is for America’s Jews, and for Jews around the world.