A Los Angeles rabbi (one who, by the way, is known for his anti-Catholicism) claims that The Passion is fueling hate mail to his group. Perhaps Rabbi Hier is receiving hate mail, but from whom: Cal Thomas? The Knights of Columbus? Deal Hudson? The movie hasn’t even been released yet (only a select few have seen the rough cut), so how could it be the reason for hate mail?
It must be a pretty amazing movie whose depictions of “crazed, evil Jews” is so bad that it causes people who haven’t even seen it to send hate mail to Jews. By the way, I thought TV and movie sex and violence couldn’t influence people to do anything? At least that’s what the entertainment industry told us after Columbine.
Look, here’s the problem. The Gospels say that Jesus was crucified after a raging mob demanded his crucifixion. Now this was first-century Jerusalem: either the mob was Roman soldiers or Jewish citizens. And the Gospels also tell us that the Sanhedrin denounced Jesus to Pilate and that Pilate felt threatened by the prospect of civil unrest so he capitulated to the Sanhedrin and the mob. That’s not anti-Semitism; it’s the Gospel and it’s the truth. It also doesn’t indict Jews today for the acts of the people then.
Anybody who calls himself a Christian who sees the movie and suddenly “realizes” that Jews were involved in the crucifixion hasn’t read his Bible or been to a Lenten religious service.
