The Passion of the Christ is not an anti-Semitic film. But some people just won't leave it alone.

By now you have probably read about the early report of anti-Semitism by a group of Jewish and Christian "scholars" based on a stolen script. It's likely that you have heard of the negative review given after a viewing of a bootleg copy of the film was arranged by The New York Post. The story of Abraham Foxman of the Anti Defamation League [ADL] sneaking in to see the film in order to confirm his fears that the film will incite anti-Semitic behavior has been hard to miss.

This week I got a call from a reporter with The Globe and Mail in Toronto. He wanted to talk about our screening of the film a few weeks ago to 9,000 Christian leaders across the country. I admit I was a bit naive as I attempted to answer all his questions to the best of my ability.

Near the end of our conversation his real agenda came out. "Were there any Jewish leaders at the showings?" he asked. He wanted to know why I did not invite the B'nai B'rith to see the film? "Jews who have seen the film believe it is very problematic," he told me.

Why won't they leave it alone? Anti-Semitism is a serious accusation and one that, as Christians, we should not dismiss lightly. However, in the case of The Passion of the Christ, the accusation is unfounded. The facts simply do not support it.

10 Reasons Why The Passion of the Christ does NOT promote anti-Semitism :

1. Respected Jewish authorities who are not part of the ADL have pointed out the hypocrisy of the ADL's position.
   
   
2. Respected Christian leaders like Billy Graham, James Dobson, Charles Colson, Cardinal Francis George and many, many more who are supportive of the Jewish people are unanimous in their praise of the film.
   
   
3. The involvement of the Jewish Pharisees in the plot to have Jesus killed is a biblical fact.
   
   
4. This biblical fact is verified by the Jewish Talmudic writings as pointed out by noted Jewish author and historian David Klinghofer. [see details]
   
   
5. Showing the involvement of Jews in a first century event should have no bearing on treatment of Jews in the 21st century.
   
   
6. People seeing this film will not be motivated to hate the Jews since Jesus, while on the cross, said "forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing."
   
   
7. In one of the flashbacks of the film, Mel Gibson shows Jesus teaching his followers to love their enemies.
   
   
8. The blame for the death of Jesus is not placed on the Jews alone. In fact, Gibson skillfully shows the involvement of Satan, Judas, Peter, the Romans, God the Father, and you and me and the sins of the whole world.
   
   
9. The film shows that no one took Jesus' life from Him, but He freely gave it up for you and me and the whole world, including His chosen people, the Jews.
   
   
10. This movie does not inspire hatred, but love, appreciation and thankfulness.

The Underlying Reason Why They May Not Leave This Accusation Alone

Though the overt criticism of the film is potential anti-Semitism, a close inspection points out that the criticism is more a liberal agenda than a Jewish agenda. Recent articles make it clear that the ADL are proponents of a pro-choice position, in favor of gay marriage, and want to preserve religious pluralism. By religious pluralism they do not mean the ability to co-exist, but that all religions are basically equal and no religion should be able to make claims of absolute truth. These are not Jewish positions but liberal positions.

The bottom line is that critics of the film are critical of the claim that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God. The Passion of the Christ makes it clear that Jesus is Lord. Christians should not be censored for that belief.

One Final Voice

In December, the Vatican news service Zenit interviewed Father Augustine Di Noia, a Dominican priest, respected theologian and undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Doctrine of the Faith. Asked about the charge of anti-Semitism he replied "as a Catholic theologian, I would be bound to condemn anti-Semitism or anti-Judaism in any recounting of the passion and death of Christ -- and not just because of the terrible harm that has been done to Jewish people on these grounds, but also because this represents a profound misreading of the passion narratives. But let me answer your question plainly: There is absolutely nothing anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish about Mel Gibson's film."

Bob Kraemer

Breaking News

>>Theatre information is now available. The film is set to be released Feb 25th in 160 theatres. Four theatre chains now have numbers set up for advance group ticket sales. Get all the details at www.sharethelife.com.

>>Almost 12,000 promotional DVDs with trailers of the film have been distributed to churches across the country. The DVD features movie trailers, interviews with Jim Caviezel and Mel Gibson, and information on outreach ideas and resources.

>>Mel Gibson is scheduled to guest on ABC's Primetime with Diane Sawyer on Monday Feb. 16. Check your local listings for the time in your area.

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The Biblical Facts as Verified in the Jewish Talmudic Writings
David Klinghoffer, Author and Historian

Jewish officialdom - that small, cozy world of community leaders and other machers - is already getting agitated by Mel Gibson's still-in-production Jesus movie. "The Passion" depicts the last 12 hours in the life of Christianity's founder, and press reports suggest that it places blame for the man's death firmly on Jewish shoulders.

One such orthodox belief insists that, despite what the Christian Gospels say, it wasn't Jews who killed Jesus: it was Romans acting on their own. You've heard this a million times, from Hebrew school onward. The Simon Wiesenthal Center's Rabbi Marvin Hier, referring to Gibson's making of "The Passion," recently told Reuters that he's concerned "that the film's purpose is to undo the changes made by Vatican II," which absolved the Jews of collective responsibility for Jesus' death. That "would unleash more of the scurrilous charges of deicide directed against the Jewish people."

Yet authoritative Jewish sources teach that Jesus died at least partly thanks to decisions taken by his fellow Jews. That fact used to be covered up by our communal leaders lest antisemites discover and publicize it. But the discovery has already happened, as a quick Internet search will reveal. So why keep fooling ourselves?

Maimonides says it unapologetically in his "Letter to Yemen": "Jesus of Nazareth... impelled people to believe that he was a prophet sent by God to clarify perplexities in the Torah, and that he was the Messiah that was predicted by each and every seer. He interpreted the Torah and its precepts in such a fashion as to lead to their total annulment, to the abolition of all its commandments and to the violation of its prohibitions. The sages, of blessed memory, having become aware of his plans before his reputation spread among our people, meted out fitting punishment to him."

In this passage, Maimonides draws on the Talmud and the Tosefta, another ancient rabbinic text. One key talmudic passage, from tractate Sanhedrin (43a), was expunged by censors but preserved in manuscripts and is well known today:

"On the eve of Passover they hung Jesus of Nazareth. The herald had gone forth forty days before [his death], (crying): 'Jesus of Nazareth goes forth to be stoned, because he has practiced magic and deceived and led astray Israel. Anyone who knows anything in his favor should come and declare concerning him.' But they found nothing in his favor."

Stoning would have been followed by briefly hanging the body on a tree. As one modern scholar notes, "the Talmudic story of the execution of Jesus does not implicate the civil [Roman] government at all."

What's clear beyond doubt is that the Jewish community has a strong interest in fostering positive, warm relations with Catholics and other Christians. Surely, though, the cause of friendship with our non-Jewish fellow citizens is unlikely to be advanced by critiquing religious beliefs which closely mirror our own tradition. Our loyalty should be to Judaism and to truth, not to an officially sanctioned, sanitized version of Judaism or the truth - which may be neither Jewish nor true. (The Forward, May 3, 2003)

~ David Klinghoffer is the author of The Discovery of God: Abraham and the Birth of Monotheism published this month by Doubleday.