Filmmaker Mel Gibson, whose upcoming movie on the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus has drawn charges of anti-Semitism from Jewish and Catholic scholars, is shopping his film to a more receptive audience: evangelical Christians, conservative Catholics and Orthodox Jews.
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One fan is Bishop Charles J. Chaput of the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, who defended the movie in the Denver Catholic Register.
"I find it puzzling and disturbing that anyone would feel licensed to attack a film of sincere faith before it has even been released," the archbishop wrote.
"When the overtly provocative 'The Last Temptation of Christ' was released 15 years ago, movie critics piously lectured Catholics to be open-minded and tolerant. Surely that advice should apply equally for everyone," he said.
These charges of anti-semitism are ridiculous! Let's face facts here: a group of Jews were responsible for the death of Christ. They were playing a part in God's plan for the salvation of mankind. As distasteful as that role was, it doesn't mean that the Jewish were or are responsible and deserve retribution in any way, shape, or form. Christ Himself forgave them from the cross.
It is no more fair to paint all Jews with the same brush as those few responsible for Christ's death than it is to paint all Roman Catholics with the same brush as the pedophile priests of recent scandals or to paint all Arabs as terrorists because of the actions of a few extremists. That's prejudice, my friends. From all I have read about this film, prejudice is not a factor. The protagonists and the antagonists (except Pilate) are all Jewish.
In the story of Christ's passion, the "bad guys" are Jewish. In a story of the Spanish Inquisition, the "bad guys" would be Catholic. Would an historically accurate film of the events in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001 be labeled as anti-Arab? After all, the Arab men who carried out those attacks were the "bad guys" in that event, weren't they?
Mel Gibson is trying to put together a realistic film that is as historically accurate as is possible. It was a bloody, brutal and viciously hateful event, made even worse by the fact that it was happening to the Son of God. The story is so well-known and often-told (or made into films) that I fear it has become taken for granted by many of us, myself included. History is just not always politically correct. I fully support Mr. Gibson on this worthy and gutsy endeavor.