In his syndicated column published this morning, John Leo, one of the Albuquerque Journal’s kinder conservatives and a serious basketball player in his youth (see "Note" below) says he thinks Christians and Jews see a different movie when they watch Mel Gibson’s "The Passion of the Christ."
He’s probably correct though I think he might have broadened the point by saying "believer" and "unbeliever."
I don’t know if my own views of the film are worth expressing; unable to take the brutality, I left the theater early.
It is worth noting, however, that many Jewish critics – even those very worried that Gibson was fanning the flames of anti-Semitism - did not say the film should be banned or boycotted. (At least, I read nothing of the kind.)
In a democracy, we have the right to critique, complain, criticize. But we undermine our society each time we limit the free expression of ideas.
Jews understand that.
I wish all Americans did.
Note: John Leo and I worked for the Bergen Evening Record, now The Record, in 1959, I think. We played hoops once or twice. He was good.