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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.

Let me ask you this: do the Gospel Narratives of Jesus' Passion place the blame for the death of Jesus on the Jewish people?

From my reading of the Gospels, the blame goes on everyone in Jerusalem at the time. The Roman governor ordered Jesus humiliated and executed, the Roman soldiers did the deed, the Jewish leaders and their servants performed the initial arrest and requested that the Romans carry out the death sentence, the Jewish people preferred clemency for a popular criminal and the disciples were hiding. No group escapes blame.

Individuals who might be considered to act honorably are: Peter for attempting to resist the high priest's servants and the member of the Sanhedrin who urged releasing Jesus and against the death sentence.

The blame rests on both Jew and Gentile; in essence all of humanity. However, as pointed out in Isaiah 53(esp v 10) and elsewhere, all was completely under God's control. Therefore it was God's will, not man's, that Christ was crucified at calvary.