Minister dies watching Jesus movie

News.com.AU ^ | 03/23/04 | News.

[Pikamax]

Minister dies watching Jesus movie From correspondents in Rio De Janeiro March 23, 2004

A BRAZILIAN pastor died of a sudden heart attack while watching Mel Gibson's controversial film "The Passion of The Christ," church officials said Monday.

Pastor Jose Geraldo Soares, 43, was watching the film, which has been criticized for its violent depiction of Jesus Christ's final hours, when he suffered a "violent heart attack" in a movie theater in Belo Horizonte, capital of the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, said Pastor Amauri Costa de Oliveira.

Soares did not respond when his wife turned to speak to him during the film. The couple was with their two children.

Soares was a member of the Eighth Presbyterian Church of Belo Horizonte, which reserved the entire movie theater so its 270 followers could watch the dramatization of Jesus' last 12 hours before his crucifixion.

The pastor's friends said his death was a coincidence and had nothing to do with the violent scenes showing Jesus being savagely beaten by Roman legionnaires.

The film was launched in Brazil on Friday.

It is the second death related to the film reported worldwide.

Peggy Law Scott, 57, fainted during the crucifixion scenes in a movie theater in Wichita, Kansas last month. She was taken to a hospital and later died from a heart attack.

Gibson's film has dominated the US box office, making 295.2 million dollars in the United States and Canada.

The Courier-Mail

[HitmanLV]

Wow, a movie with a REAL body count!

[NewRomeTacitus]

This is, of course, President Bush's fault.

[annyokie]

Pastor drops dead outside of McDonald's. Big Mac at eleven.

[VadeRetro]

You get millions of people all over the world doing the same thing in a month, some of them will die doing it.

[Riley]

I guess there are different kinds of heart attacks.

Soares did not respond when his wife turned to speak to him during the film.

My last one hurt like the dickens, no way I could have sat there and quietly expired. I was pretty quiet in the ambulance, but occasionally managed an "Aw crap, this really freakin' hurts."

[Greg Packer]

. . . he suffered a "violent heart attack" . . .

Man, that's the worst kind.

[realpatriot]

"Wow, a movie with a REAL body count!"

Now THAT is an interesting perspective!

[ConservativeConvert]

He's the second. An old woman died in the theater the week it opened [also of a heart attack].

This movie is delivering people to Jesus...

[zarf]

Man, I just cracked up after reading that headline!!

Does that mean I'm not a well person?

[mylife]

Yes of course its GW's fault

[Tempest]

So noone else has ever died in a movie theater before?

[sergiod]

Thanks so much for making me spray Coke all over my keyboard... :)

[Shethink13]

The pastor's friends said his death was a coincidence and had nothing to do with the violent scenes showing Jesus being savagely beaten by Roman legionnaires.

It is the second death related to the film reported worldwide.

Hey moron journalists - friends say the death was a coincidence, so why then do you claim the death is related to the film two sentences later?

The guy was 43 years old for crying out loud. What looney believes he had a heart attack from watching violence in a movie? Looneys with an agenda, perhaps?

[sadimgnik]

So noone else has ever died in a movie theater before?

---

Dunno. But it is rare. My son works at the largest multiplex in our city, and in the 5 years he's been there, there haven't been any fatalities.

Besides which, there IS a thing called irony ... and this, I suggest, exemplifies it.

Sadim

[Ciexyz]

And a lot of miracles are being reported by people who are healed after watching the movie. Haven't you read it in the supermarket rag mags?

[fatima]

Salve Regina,I spoke to a few teens who are afraid to see the movie because a person died while watching it.

[Green Knight]

This movie's killed more Christians than it has Jews. Bet Abe Foxman didn't expect THAT to happen!