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As the author of the article on Mel Gibson's movie, that has generated some 250 replies, I would appreciate the opportunity here to respond.

First of all, I did not write the intro, "Gibson's Gaffe: Mel Gibson needs a history class....etc."
That was put in without my knowledge by the editor, and it changed significantly the tone of my article..

My point was that the Romans, not the Jews, killed Jesus, which is true & indisputable.

Yes, The New Testament emphasizes the alleged role of the Jewish priests and their followers in condemning Jesus (illegally, on Passover eve, already, which could not have happened under Jewish law.) It also portrays -- again, not credibly --the Roman ruler Pontius Pilate as being reluctant to condemn Jesus, even eager to release him, as if he were a weak and malleable ruler instead of the blood thirsty tyrant and iron fisted ruler and oppressor of the Jews that he was.

This whitewashing of the dominant Roman role in Jesus' murder can be explained by the impracticality of trying to publish and distribute, under harsh Roman rule, books that might incite opposition to Rome. Better to blame "the Jews," even though Jesus and practically all of his followers and disciples were Jewish.

Of course, none of this changes the detailed description in the New Testament of the torture and killing by the Romans of Jesus, whose huge Jewish following represented a threat to orderly rule by the Romans and their Jewish puppets in the priesthood and leadership.

All accounts of Jesus' death make it clear that it was the Romans who tortured Jesus, put a crown of thorns on his head, spat on him, nailed him to the cross, and ran him through with a sword, later going on to torture and kill Peter, Paul, and countless other Christians, many of whom were also Jews.

It was "the Jews" --Jesus' followers -- who took Jesus off the cross,prepared him for "burial," mourned him, and then got the blame for the crime.

Unless Gibson's movie makes all this clear, and that the Romans, not the Jews, are the real "Christ killers," it will not be historically accurate.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this posting.

Sincerely, Lewis Regenstein