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Yesterday Christopher Hutsul of the Toronto Star wrote an article about how Mel Gibson's new film "The Passion Of The Christ" will be used by Christian lobby groups to convert non-Christians.

Organizations working under the Campus Crusade For Christ have assembled in order to pursue an effective method of marketing the film to non-believers. Consider this, an excerpt from a website created to help guide priests giving sermons based on the film:

"Carefully choose a neighborhood you believe God wants you to reach. With multiple prayer teams, walk every street and pray for every house, asking that God would reach each person with the message of the cross through exposure to The Passion Of The Christ. Leave a Door Hanger and/or evangelistic booklet at each home encouraging them to see the movie and inviting them to attend a Passion-related event at your church."

Creepy? No, that would be the understatement of the century.

Give Christian groups credit, though. They realize that using a highly anticipated and hyped piece of popular culture to help promote Christianity is a unique oppurtunity. Marketing Christianity to coincide with the current Hollywood buzz? What a concept!

But aren't they making a little much of all this? It is, after all, just a MOVIE for God's sake (pun intended) and regardless of how well it does it will eventually leave the theatres and people's consciousness. This notion of encouraging non-Christians to see the movie and consider the Christian faith is absurd. People go to movies to be entertained, not enlightened, otherwise movies like Jackass: The Movie and 50 First Dates wouldn't be number one at the box office. The only Lord I want to see on the big screen is The Lord of The Rings. Jesus is alright, with His miracles and all, but He's got nothin' on Gandalf the Grey. Defeating a mothafuckin' Balrog armed only with an old staff? Fhuggedaboudit.

Then there's the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, complaining about the potential anti-Semitism the film may cause. A member of this organization recently appeared on CNN's Larry King Live, complaining about how they tried to work with Mel Gibson on the image of Jews that would be portrayed in the film, but were rebuffed. Mel Gibson, the film's director, should be able to execute his vision and interpretation of the Passion without outside influence (interference). It is worth noting, however, that Gibson's father is a Holocaust deniar.

I don't think Norman Jewison was coerced to work with any Christian groups when filming his "Jesus Christ, Superstar", the antithesis of what Gibson's film appears to be. "Jesus Christ, Superstar" was a musical, but offered no spiritual enlightenment in a religious sense.

Whenever Easter rolled around, I loved watching Nicholas Rey's 1961 masterpiece "King of Kings" starring Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus Christ and narrated by Orson Welles. I am anxious to see Gibson's film, but could care less about the politics surrounding the diplomacy between Christian fundamentalists and Jewish leaders. Capitalizing on Catholic-converts, fears of anti-Semitism, whatever.

Can't we all just get along?

© 2004 Aaron Bayley