The Passion of Christ in New Jerusalem

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Northeastern Brazil, that is. The NYTimes (LRR) takes a look at the country's largest open-air theater spectacle: a family-run Passion Play that started over 50 years ago. It began with kids wearing sheets from the family's hotel, but now features well-known actors.
This year Jesus in the Pacheco production is played by Luciano Szafir, the handsome, dark-haired star of a popular [TV] Globo soap opera called "The Clone," who was promoted from the role of Pontius Pilate. At the premiere, when his shirt was removed during a poignant scene in which Jesus is whipped and a crown of thorns is placed on his head, clusters of teenage girls began to squeal and take his photograph.
It has even spawned a rival production in Recife:

2 Comments

The whole thing is absurd! You can't argue religion, only the facts and historically other than the bible very little is actually known about Jesus. We have to remember that the bible was written by scholars and scribes and not saints. There is absolutely no proof that these people were any kind of prophets at all. No one was there over a thousand years ago today to even comment what is true and what is not true, however the bible (Jewish and Christian) is also based upon myth and not just supposed facts. It is no more innocent than other religious book when it comes to telling folk tales that can possibly be true by logic. We have to consider the fact that ancient peoples came up with their own conclusions to things that they couldn't possibly understand that modern science and technology has now proven to be false. Christians often laugh at other religions when it comes to stories that they say are obviously myths yet they don't consider the fact that Mary couldn't possibly have given birth as a virgin logically and that Joseph was indeed her husband and it was a custom then to have sexual intercourse on one's wedding night in hebrew culture as it still is today in some Orthodox Jewish sects. Plus where did Jesus come from? It is obvious that he couldn't have dropped out of the sky, he had to have been Joseph's son. There is really no other logical explanation, yet many Christioans laugh at what they believe to be absurd beliefs by other religions. Christianity is the only religion that throughout history has not truly accepted it's founder. How can Christians accept Jesus if many secretly dislike Jews, for centuries Christians slaughtered Jews in the name of Christianity as an excuse for their antisemitism. Christians then and even now still tend to separate Jesus and the Prophets from other Jews even though they were Jewish when asked. Many refuse pscychologically to accept their Jewishness. Many say that these Jews were different Jews as the Nazis said when they went to church to pray to Jesus and then slaughtered Jewish men, women and children. Many Christians find it hard to understand why the movie the passion of the christ is a big deal and that is because they simply don't understand and know about the history of Jewish persecution, many are aware of the Holocaust but not of the centuries of Jewish slaughter prior to it. Mel Gibson belongs to a Fundmentalist Catholic sect which believe that the Jews are responsible for the killing of Jesus even though The Catholic Church has denied these accusations and has claimed that these are not the true facts since the 1960s yet few people know this, because the Catholic Church has not made these facts public enough, just as the Catholic Church did not apologize for centuries of Jewish persecution and their hand in the Holocaust in 2000. Furthermore The scripts that he has chosen to use for his film are not accurate according to others who have reviewed his scripts as well as The Vatican. Mel Gibson has chosen to ignore the changes made by The Catholic Church that show that Caiaphas was appointed by Pilate and that Pilate wanted Jesus dead. Logically any Historian will agree that the character of Pilate was not of a sympathic one and on occasion he tended to be sarcastic in his manner, perhaps which was the case on the day of Jesus's death sentence. Rather of not crowds shouted or not he would have killed him either way. Pilate asked the crowd, but his intentions were to kill Jesus from the start, he was merely being sarcastic. Pilate thought that Jesus was dangerous, he appointed Caiaphas as high priest to be his spy and keep order amongst the Hebrews. Furthermore as far as the New Testament is concerned the followers of Jesus sought to lessen the responsibility of Jesus' death on the Romans due to the fact that they themselves had founded a new religion and the Emperor Constantine had converted to Christianity and had chosen to make it the religion of Rome, thus persecuting all non-christians. Naturally the Romans had to make Jews the scape-goat, how else could they convince their fellow Romans and others to now convert to a religion which they themsleves prohibited before and a religion in which they were responsible for their founder's death. It wouldn't make sense, so Pilate and the Romans had to wash their hands clean and blame the Jews who they knew had not accepted Jesus as God or the son of God other than Jesus' first deciples. There are many bibles and many interpretations. WE also have to recognize that many famous scholars and priests were antisemitic. Martin Luther who was a scholar and began the Protestant movement was very antisemitic as well as other scholars who had contributed their own versions and interpretations to various bibles. In many bibles the scripts of the Old Testament are presented only midly. Who's to say what versions are real and what versions are not, but a clue is that the original bible(The Old Testament) differs clearly from the the New Testament in its interpretations. So people ask whats' the big deal, well it is a big deal when Mel Gibson's film only presents his view and doesn't consider any other versions, plus Mel Gibsons' father is a Holocaust denier and is known to have made antisemitic remarks ,and he belongs to the same religious sect. This is not to say that Mel denies the Holocaust, but that he should have known better and he should have considered the consequences more carefully, afterall he is an Actor and most Actors and Actresses in America are Jewish as well as the film Industry itself which was founded predominately by European Jews, so ofcourse it's going to be a big deal and he's also a very popular star that many people admire and look up to, and his film could influence alot of people both positively or negatively. Personally I feel that this film wouldn't won't change people's mind either way, because many Christians when asked believe that Jews killed Jesus regardless of this film, but what makes this film dangerous is that it confirms their false views and the timing is especially wrong, due to the high rise of antisemitism because of the differences between Israelis and Palestinians as well as the accusations that Jews are to blame for America going to war in Iraq, etc. Where ever there are problems Jews have always been and are still always the scape-goats, who have been persecuted in almost every country that they have ever lived in and still can't be President in America who claims it's open-minded, yet knew about the Holocaust and discriminated against Jews as well as Blacks during world war 2 and put it's own citizens in concentration camps, because they were of German, Italian and Japanese heritage. Christians complain about secularism without waking up to smell the coffee, that almost everything is geared towards Christians in America and in the Western world in general. Jews can't take off for Hanukkah unless they first ask permission and even then they have to make up the days that they weren't present at school,work, etc., only if they work for a Jewish employer are they are allowed to receive Hanukkah off, etc.,even though there are so many Jews in the United States, the same goes for Muslims, etc. There is very little in society that is geared toward non-christians groups and so-called secularism, so why the huge complaints. Some people may say if you don't like it then leave and that is an ignorant response. It's the same for ethnic whites who claim reversed discrimination, which is absurd considering that whites pretty much have all the top positions in America and that housing discrimination and discrimination when they are walking down the street, shopping in stores or driving in their cars is very little compared to that of non-ethnic whites. Society has not changed as much as people would hope and it is a great delusion to believe that it has. There are so many misconceptions about race, religion, culture, other countries and nationalities in America and until that changes a film like The Passion of The Christ could provoke existing haterd. Not many people know a whole lot about Judaism in general. First of all Judaism is a religion with a long tradition rooted in the Hebrew heritage, but it has not really been a culture for centuries. A Jew is Jewish by birth or by conversion and there are different sects of Judaism, such as Reform, Orthodox, Liberal and Conversative Judaism, so not all Jews eat Kosher nor wear a Kippah, and most Jews in the United States are less religious and over 50% intermarry and only 1% are actually the msot religious Jews. Jews some from all countries, Italian Jews being the oldest European Jewish community in Rome. Jews come in all colors, sizes, shapes, etc., they can have blond hair and blue eyes or black hair and brown eyes, they can have white skin, brown or black skin, yet most Americans only think of Jews as being of European or Middle Eastern origin with white or olive skin and dark hair. To undersatnd the uproar one must understand Jewish history. Jews were murdered and forced to convert to Christianity before The Spanish Inquisition and for centuries there after. Jews were murdered during the Crusades, were Blamed for the Black Plague, blamed for World War 1, were also even accused of owning lot's of black slaves by The Nation of Islam and other Black Intellectuals, Jews were murdered in the pogroms in Russia and various trials and mob raids and masscares have taken place for centuries against Jews. In the Middle Ages people believed that Jews were the children of Satan, Vampires, Demons and that they sacrificed poor helpless Christian Women and children, this belief held out way until world war 2, only after the horrors of the holocaust were revealed to all were Jews given some sympathy by Christians, and antisemitism had decreased for a few years until ofcourse racist groups began claiming that the Jews had invented the holocaust themselves even though no German denies it, in order to gain money and sympathy, which is absurd, especially when one considers the fact that Jews weren't the only so-called undesirables murdered in the Holocaust, there were Poles, Slavs, The Handicapped, Gypsies, so-called Traitors to the Reich and Homosexuals. Many non-Jews also perished in the Holocaust. The reason we mostly hear about Jewish victims is because The Nazis found Jews to be the most undesirables, they sought to wipe them out completely, Gypsies were treated far better than Jews. The holocaust happened because the world let it happen, primarily because of a lack of tolerance due to a fear of Jews and antisemitism, ooted deeply in Christianity. It's hard for some people to face the facts, but they are what they are. The Catholic Church had never apologized for its treatment of Jews and various Christian Churches still preach antisemitism today. Just a few years ago in California a man went into a Jewish youth community center with an intent to kill children just because they were Jewish, he claimed that they were the children of the devil and that they ahd killed Christ. Little has changed for Jews and that is something that Christians must realize before they jump to conclusions about why Jewish groups are concerned about this film, their concern, given Jewish history of persecution and the antisemitsim that still exists greatly today; their concerns are within reason. Female, Multiracial, 24, Europe, of the Liberal Jewish faith

I believe in our savior, Jesus Christ.

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On life and living in communion with the Catholic Church.

Richard Chonak

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This page contains a single entry by Richard Chonak published on April 18, 2003 10:27 AM.

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