[ExpandNATO]

Would you please find me the Romans involved in the initial arrest of Jesus at the garden of Gethsemene?

The Jewish elites had Jesus arrested. Tried him and then took Him to Pilate so that Pilate would actually perform the death sentence. Pilate decided he needed to please the locals (which would not have been necessary if Pilate had as much power as you claim).

Had the Jews elites not done the initial arrest there would have been no execution, since the Romans would not have cared what a local yokel was preaching. Had Pilate some courage he would have refused to execute. Both pagan leaders and Jewish leaders are guilty.

[Map Kernow]

Let me ask you this: do the Gospel Narratives of Jesus' Passion place the blame for the death of Jesus on the Jewish people? That is the central issue here. Mel Gibson states that he has based the screenplay of "The Passion" on the Gospel Narratives, and people who have see the film at the screening mentioned in Rich's article attest that that is what Gibson has done.

The issue then is not whether or not Mel's movie "The Passion" is anti-Semitic, but whether the Gospels it is based on are.

[Courier]

Who were the Jewish elite?

When a Nation is conquered, the elite are those who are allied with the conquerer.

As to not caring about a local "trouble making" yokel, in the history of totalitarianism, since the beginning of history, the "Power that be" always gets rid of the agitator. History shows the Romans were not too kind to anyone questioning their power and just 70 years later they laid all of Judea to waste.

All this excitement over a movie.

It's a movie with actors.

How can anyone get excited when next year you may see "Jesus" playing a junkie.