 | [ENG] Rabbi, Pastor Spar Over Gibson's 'Passion' |
 Imprimer |
| Auteur : TradNews |
| Sujet : [ENG] Rabbi, Pastor Spar Over Gibson's 'Passion' |
| Date : 2003-07-01 21:00:42 |
Tuesday, July 1, 2003 Rabbi, Pastor Spar Over Gibson's 'Passion' The Rev. Ted Haggard, president of National Association of Evangelicals, is hotly defending Mel Gibson's "The Passion" against charges that the movie is anti-Semitic. Appearing on CNN Monday night with anchorman Anderson Cooper, Haggard verbally sparred with Rabbi Marvin Hier, head of Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Though Hier has not seen the film, he said it could inspire anti-Semitism because it was based on the writings of two 18th-century nuns who espoused anti-Semitism, he claimed. "On top of that, Mel Gibson has said he doesn't believe in the accomplishments of Vatican II. He belongs to a church that doesn't believe the accomplishments of Vatican II. And Vatican II to Jews is very important because it exonerated Jews from the charge of deicide for which millions of Jews have been murdered through the ages," Hier said. Haggard, pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., insisted that the film was firmly rooted in the New Testament. "Yes, well, I have seen the movie," the minister said. "And Mel Gibson was here himself, and he spoke in our church to a group of about 900 Christian leaders. Then we came to another studio, and about 30 of us who are evangelical leaders watched the movie. 'A Beautiful, Wonderful Account' "Now, I didn't know about the other sources, but I do know Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and the reason Mel Gibson was here is he wanted to know if we thought the movie was consistent with the account in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And I can tell you it is a beautiful, wonderful account. "It stays very closely to the Scripture. Mel Gibson is an incredible artist. He's done a wonderful job communicating a great story." Asked if he thought the picture was a form of anti-Semitism, Haggard said: "Not at all. It communicates the last day of Jesus' life here on the Earth. And no different than Matthew, Mark, Luke and John do, and no different than 350,000 churches across America celebrate Easter. And in the midst of the Easter celebration they have to tell the story of the crucifixion and everything associated with that." Asked if it were the particular story of the crucifixion or interpretation that had him most concerned, the rabbi said: "Absolutely. Nine scholars, four Catholic and five Jewish scholars, have seen the draft of the script, and their conclusions were it is a matter of grave concern to all of them. There was not a single dissent among the nine who viewed that script. If he's made changes since then, which is only a couple of weeks ago, that will be terrific. That will show the criticism drove the point home." But the committee of liberal religious scholars was not sanctioned by the Catholic bishops, who issued a strongly worded statement in June saying they had not offered any criticism or endorsement of the film, and would wait for its release next year to do so. Some of the scholars who have challenged Gibson's movie are not so angry with his account as they are with the Bible. These scholars claim that the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote the New Testament Gospels to curry favor with the Roman authorities, who ruled the known world at that time. They are unhappy that Gibson stuck to the original text. "Rabbi, the story is the story," Haggard said. "Certainly the Jewish people know the importance of embracing history and in making sure that in our generation we don't repeat mistakes of the past. "We don't want revisionist history. We don't want the Gospel accounts changed. We don't want the historical accounts changed. So, this is a beautiful portrayal of what happened in the life of the Lord Jesus." Hier concluded by insisting he was "not saying Mel Gibson is an anti-Semite. What I am saying is that four Catholic scholars representing the Catholic bishops joined five Jewish scholars, unanimously felt there was a great deal of anti-Semitism in the script. Not only Jews, but Catholics as well, who believed after they read that script that that was the case." Director-cowriter Gibson has said that "The Passion" is based on the accepted Gospel accounts of Jesus' life and death and that the screenplay has undergone many changes since the Catholic-Jewish committee saw a stolen early draft. |
