Posted on 12/13/2004 3:21:06 PM PST by Alex Murphy
Ministry claims the actor's movie is "a blatant rip off" of their JESUS film
LOS ANGELES, CA In a flurry of controversy that just won't blow over, Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ which has seen a storm of criticism from Jewish groups who fear the movie will stir anti-Semitism - seems destined for a dustup with an unlikely opponent and recent ally.
Lawyers for Campus Crusade for Christ International have filed papers in US District Court alleging that The Passion of the Christ, which tells the story of the final 12 hours of the life of Jesus Christ, violates copyrights held by their JESUS film an evangelical tool that Campus Crusade for Christ touts as the most watched movie in the world with more than 5.6 billion cumulative viewings since 1979. The JESUS film offers audiences a broader view of Jesus' ministry, death and resurrection.
The lawsuit came about after Campus Crusade for Christ President Steve Douglass attended a private, advance screening of the film at a small theater in Beverly Hills. Douglass, whose ministry has promoted The Passion of the Christ on the Web site for the JESUS film for months (information about Passion was still prominently displayed on the site at press time), was invited to the screening by Gibson himself as a gesture of thanks for the ministry's support of Passion.
"I admit I was honored when I got the invitation in the mail with the word Payback' in big, gold letters on the front," Douglass said. "But when I got into the theater and the film started rolling, I just could not believe what I was seeing. Right there on the screen was Mel Gibson's name emblazoned across a carbon copy of a good chunk of the movie that Campus Crusade for Christ has been working tirelessly to promote for 25 years."
Witnesses tell THO that an obviously furious Douglass stormed out of the theater after the viewing without even stopping to talk to Gibson, a devout Catholic, who was waiting to shake his hand in the lobby.
"I guess I was expecting just a little originality," Douglass said when asked what he had anticipated from Passion. "I thought Catholics were good at making things up, and this is a talented and highly experienced Catholic actor and director, and all he can do is copy us. It's unbelievable. Next time try a movie about the Apocrypha, Mel."
Gibson, who openly admits to watching the JESUS film along with countless other movies depicting the life of Christ as source material for Passion, seemed baffled by the lawsuit.
"I thought we were all in this thing together. It seemed like they were behind the project all the way," Gibson said in a brief phone conversation with THO. "I mean, sure, these people are excommunicate from the one true Church and don't adhere to the Pre-Vatican II beliefs necessary to attain eternal life with Christ, but at least their JESUS movie seemed to be moving people in the right direction."
Douglass seems confident that his lawsuit will prevail.
"When Christians see this movie, they are going to realize that it is nothing but a shot-by-shot remake of one of the most important parts of the beloved JESUS movie without permission," Douglass said. "But I want to be clear that I'm not encouraging anyone to see The Passion of the Christ. Don't bother. Just pull out your trusty copy of the JESUS film."
So why is the JESUS film's Web site still promoting Passion?
"Well, our Web guy only comes in the third Friday of each month," Douglass explained. "Besides, we've been pretty busy with this whole lawsuit thing."
Here is a site that has a comic strip about Campus Crusade. It's really funny if you know much about them.
http://www.whichcircle.com/
WACKY DOTS ARE BAD!
Precisely.
How come nobody else noticed this striking resemblance? And why a lawsuit? That is unbecoming of Christians (and unbiblical.)
Alex is growing a sense of humor. Rejoice! :-)
http://www.holyobserver.com/detail.php?sec=main&page=disclaimer
The stories and content on The Holy Observer are mostly fabricated and should not be taken seriously. Real names are used on occasion for satirical purposes, but the quotations and situations associated with those names are usually fictitious. ....
He gotcha!
I reckon so...
I didn't even notice any hints at all that they weren't serious.
It's not that they're dumb.
This piece wasn't exactly a great piece of satire because it never achieved a level which was funny or outrageous. But there were enough clues in it to indicate it was satire long before the end of the article.
Are you kidding? This is a dead giveaway:
Gibson said in a brief phone conversation with THO. "I mean, sure, these people are excommunicate from the one true Church and don't adhere to the Pre-Vatican II beliefs necessary to attain eternal life with Christ, but at least their JESUS movie seemed to be moving people in the right direction."
Even Gibson's not whacked enough to say something like this.
I liked it. ;-D
As I mentioned on another thread, THO is fast becoming another of my guilty pleasures, along with South Park. Neither is a pinnacle of hilarity ALL the time, but they do well enough some of the time, and occasionally are so on-target that I'm happily surprised.
You're gonna smile....:>)....but I still don't get it.
Guys, this is a joke article. The "Holy Observer" is a humor site like The Onion is for newspapers.
"Here is a site that has a comic strip about Campus Crusade. It's really funny if you know much about them."
I read some of the strips. They reminded me of this passage from C. S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity."
It is no good asking for a simple religion. After all, real things are not simple. They look simple, but they are not. The table I am sitting at looks simple: but ask a scientist to tell you what it is really made of - all about the atoms and how the light waves rebound from them and hit my eye and what they do to the optic nerve and what it does to my brain - and, of course, you find that what we call 'seeing a table' lands you in mysteries and complications which you can hardly get to the end of. A child saying a child's prayer looks simple. And if you are content to stop there, well and good. But if you are not -and the modern world usually is not - if you want to go on and ask what is really happening - then you must be prepared for something difficult. If we ask for something more than simplicity, it is silly then to complain that the something more is not simple
Very often, however, this silly procedure is adopted by people who are not silly, but who, consciously or unconsciously, want to destroy Christianity. Such people put up a version of Christianity suitable for a child of six and make that the object of their attack. When you try to explain the Christian doctrine as it is really held by an instructed adult, they then complain that you are making their heads turn round and that it is all too complicated and that if there really were a God they are sure He would have made 'religion' simple, because simplicity is so beautiful, etc
You must be on your guard against these people for they will change their ground every minute and only waste your time. Notice, too, their idea of God 'making religion simple'; as if 'religion' were something God invented, and not His statement to us of certain quite unalterable facts about His own nature
Story could be parody, or could be fact and the 'Jesus' film really isn't so similar to The Passion after all. There's no reason to believe a Campus Crusade would have borrowed from the writings of Anne Emmerich, for example.
LOL. You're outta control with these Holy Observer and WWN posts!
I don't think I can watch this film as I can't really handle watching violence of this nature, much less seeing it inflicted on Jesus. Also, I don't like what I'm hearing about the portrayal of Jews. If this film is responsible for anti-Semetic feelings in people than I want no part of it.
the rumors about anti Semitism was started before the film was even finished...and the film did not portray "jews" in a bad light, just the chief priests. Indeed, the real "baddies" were the Roman soldiers. And many of the Jews helped or supported Jesus.
And there has been no increase in anti semitism as a result of the film...one "church" was well publicized for printing an anti semetic sign outside, but the sign was changed in a day...due to local parishoners protesting. There was NO increase in antisemitism after the film...the antisemitism in the US is not found among devout Christians, but on campus among pc liberals...
Yes, it is violent. but seeing tha God suffered allows those of us who suffer to identify with his sufferings...Jesus was not a magic guru who was above us, but a man who knew suffering....As a doctor, I see the film thru the eyes of Mary, and understand that since Christ's suffering has meaning, so also in the light of eternity, that my sufferings and the sufferings I see every day will have an ultimate meaning also....
INTREP - They both used the same Source. Guess what?
The man said "Catholics are good at making things up." He should read the bible and take heed of the warnings to the churches not to beat up on each other. This man obviously isn't suing for the reasons he says he is. He probably hates Catholics.
CCfC's lawyers just came up with a cool way of getting more cash.
--Thou Shall Not Touch This
--Please, Maccabee, smite thee not
>>Even Gibson's not whacked enough to say something like this.<<
:^) No actually, he is, God bless 'im.
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