Mel Gibson’s controversial film is more of the same nose-rubbing at a time when we can do without sensationalizing religion. This 2000 year old event has had more than enough coverage from the various fields of art and books to satiate a thousand millennia. Riding on the success of “Braveheart” with its excruciating violence, Gibson is now profiteering on the execution of another martyr in a time when martyrdom has been loosely defined by Islamic jihad. Though I have not seen the film, nor intend to, there have been enough clips and critiques of it to know that had Jesus undergone such macabre punishment there would be no way the Romans could have nailed him to the cross alive, let alone have him suffer for another three hours. If it were any other subject, movie critics would denounce it as cheap and sadistic exploitation.

The more important issue here is that the nation is already at the breaking point of religious tensions — simple ceremonies of gay couples evidently in love are perceived as an affront to God and the Constitution, Catholicism is in the dumpster with its egregious perversions, the original liberalism of Protestantism is in shambles owing to the likes of Falwell and Robertson who have subverted the meaning of Christian tolerance, Judaism’s ironic wall — all in the face of extremely violent intolerance perpetrated by Islamic radicals. Enough already!

Copyright © 2004 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: March 5, 2004.