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To: Qwinn
That would be correct, because my going to a Catholic reenactment of the Stations of the Cross

That was not what exaclty what I meant. The assertion or hope of the Evangelical community was that by seeing this movie, you a self-described agnostic, would be moved to repentance of your sins and convert. You seem to have come out of the movie with a score to settle. I don't think hearing a sermon (even though millions have denied its message for centuries) is likely to produce that same reaction. There is a documented history of the Passion Plays and what effect they had on people in Europe. The Stations of the Cross, as I understand them, are introspective and meditative; not incendiary at all (at least that is my limited knowledge of them).

This movie does not seem to have had the effect on you the Evangelical community hoped for. You are only one data point, but you are here, in my face so to speak (I did not initiate this conversation with you).

1,168 posted on 03/06/2004 10:13:06 PM PST by af_vet_1981
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To: af_vet_1981
"There is a documented history of the Passion Plays and what effect they had on people in Europe."

That's true. That documented history is that only one Jew has been killed after a Passion play since the Middle Ages. That one was in Germany, in (I believe) the 19th Century. There has never been one in the United States.

Given that fact, the virulent attacks and implications that Christians are just waiting to start "another" pogrom after seeing -this- Passion play are absurd.

Again, you cannot see that my anger is focused only on the hatred I have seen heaped on Christians for absolutely no justifiable reason. I came out of the movie with a score to settle because it confirmed the suspicions I already had that the complaints against the movie were highly exaggerated. What was surprising to me upon coming back and rereading the rants of Krauthammer, Safire, etc. was that they weren't simply exaggerated, they were often completely fabricated.

Now, you should understand (and I hope I've made this plain many times over) that I -by no means- believe that only Jews have launched unfair attacks against Christians over this movie. Not even close. Practically every Leftist I know has done so. I -expect- such miserable behavior from them - I've known that Leftist secularists are incredibly hostile toward ALL religion, be it Jewish, Christian or Islamic, and if they ever even pretend to support Jews it is only on a racial basis, with their primary concern being other secularist Jews only. And when they claim to support Muslims, it's only because they consider Muslims as allies against America.

I expect repulsive, disgusting slander from them. I've been swamped by it my whole life as a conservative (cause I support slavery, don'tcha know, even though a greater percentage of Dems than Pubs voted against the Civil Rights Act).

What has distressed me -so much- though, is seeing how many conservative Jews have joined the bandwagon since the movie came out. I so totally did not expect that. For months on this board, before the movie came out, it never occured to me that the trashing of the film and of Gibson was a Jewish phenomenon - it seemed to me to be a strictly Left-Right divide. I believed that Jews on the Left would be against the movie, and Jews on the Right would oppose them.

For the most part, I was very wrong. I'd say about (maybe a little more than) half of conservative Jews that I've met or raed have hopped on the "Christians are just dying to launch another pogrom" tirade. Quite frankly, I don't know what to make of it. As a Conservative who has -staunchly- defended Israel my entire life (I was actively jeered 20 years ago by my classmates in high school for saying something that wasn't politically correct in defense of Israel) and very condemnful of anti-Semitism, and seeing virtually every conservative and Christian in my entire life behaving the same way, with EVERY bit of anti-Semitism I've ever seen on the Left, I cannot imagine what conservatives/Christians in this country have to do to get more than token respect or camaraderie from Jews when the tables are turned and it's Christians being slandered and persecuted.

Incidentally, I just saw another thread in which you agreed that blaming the vandalizing of a synogogue on the movie was wrong and unfair until more facts were found out. I was gratified to see that, and perhaps I somewhat misjudged you based on a small cross sample of posts I saw you make on this thread. At the very least, you don't seem to be utterly knee-jerk in your position, because if you just wanted to hop on the bandwagon, you could have there.

So let me ask you two questions - 1) Have you actually seen the movie? 2) If so, did you perceive all the heaping tons of anti-Semitic bigotry claimed by Krauthammer and Safire?

Qwinn
1,169 posted on 03/06/2004 10:49:52 PM PST by Qwinn
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