[Romulus]

Jewish conservatives, many of whom now feel alienated from their Christian colleagues and are wondering who are their authentic allies.

The alienation has always been there, only not recognised. The Christian Zionist interest in the dialogue has been almost entirely religious, driven by a late and spurious eschatological mythology, while the Jewish interest has been a political one. To a considerable extent the two sides have been in symbiosis, exploiting one another while never once engaged in the same enterprise. It's just as well that these pretences have been unmasked.

[Quix]

IGNORANT IDIOT.

[Quix]

REFERRING TO THE AUTHOR OF THE ARTICLE.

[mafree]

Is that really Christianity's central message - not that Jesus lived an inspirational life by which the faithful should be roused but that he died a horrible death for which the sinners should feel responsible?

Uh...yes.

[hattend]

The biggest losers are those who were predicting that if the movie was released, Jews would be rounded up, loaded up in boxcars and shipped off to the ovens by rabid Christians.

Okay, it's hyperbole, but so were the pre-release statements from numerous sources.

[zechariah]

1. Christian conservatives whose ability to protest violence in Hollywood films has now been severely compromised.

The Christian community in the US earned my abiding respect for serving as the foremost guardians of the morality of the American nation. There are literally hundreds of Christian organizations in the US devoted to enforcing standards of decency in Hollywood, strengthening marriage, and teaching young teens to abstain from sex rather than use a condom.

But the Christian community's enthusiasm for The Passion has dealt a catastrophic blow to its credibility in condemning violence in films and squalid video games such as Grand Theft Auto. Gibson's movie is one of the most brutal and bloody in the history of film and rivals The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for sheer gore.

No doubt my Christian brethren would argue that the violence in The Passion is warranted, given the fact that the subject matter is religiously inspiring. But I predict that Hollywood directors famous for gratuitous violence, such as Quentin Tarantino and Oliver Stone, will now find convincing arguments that violence in their films also serves an important social purpose.

I wonder if the author protested against the violence in Schindler's List when it was released?

It isn't hard to understand that movies like Schindler's List and The Passion aren't entertainment--they are serious films for adults that deal with ugly, violent issues. They in no way supply justification for violence-as-entertainment nor does approval of them somehow weaken the credibility of those that call for a much needed clean up the trash that gets offered as "entertainment" by Hollywood.

[z]

[Aquinasfan]

Weak.