The Passion of the Christ should more appropriately be called Mel Gibson’s Passion for Violence. Anyone who sets out to make a movie about the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life has the artistic responsibility to provide a context of what Jesus was all about. Mel Gibson message is that Jesus died the most brutal violent death that one can imagine, instead of relating what is at the core of Jesus’ teaching, namely the love for every human being. The film has strong anti-Semitic undertones. It portrays the Jewish religious leaders as the most despicable, bloodthirsty people one can imagine instead of typical bureaucrats who are trying to maintain their own positions by getting rid of the new kid on the block, who was challenging their teachings and developing a following. Mel Gibson’s desire to bring out the violence committed against Jesus goes so far that he turns Jesus into a masochistic and suicidal fellow. It is one thing to fight for one’s beliefs, even die for them if necessary. It is another thing to invite unnecessarily one’s torturers to continue their brutal violence so that one ultimately dies. Mel Gibson’s vision of Jesus makes no sense, except from the view of a severely psychological disturbed human being. Gibson’s recent anti-Semitic tirade against police officers who stopped him while driving under the influence of alcohol speaks volumes about the motivations that lay behind this misguided film.

It is one thing to fight for one