Jesus film ignites passions months before it opens (global anti-Semitism)

[IndianaGreen]

Posted on Sat, Aug. 09, 2003

Jesus film ignites passions months before it opens
By ROBERT W. BUTLER
The Kansas City Star

"I don't know that I've seen a movie that so deeply affected me as this one did," said Del Tackett, executive vice president of the conservative Focus on the Family. Tackett was one of 30 Focus on the Family staffers who in June saw a rough cut of the film.

"I tried to describe some of the scenes to my wife," Tackett said in a phone conversation, "and just broke down crying."

Although those attending were required to sign a nondisclosure agreement pledging that they would not reveal details of "The Passion," Tackett said that in general the film faithfully followed the scriptural narrative that has the Jewish high priests plotting to eliminate Jesus and even threatening Pilate with a general uprising if he fails to order Jesus' execution.

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The mention of one of those nuns, St. Anne Catherine Emmerich, raised a red flag. Emmerich's writings carry a strong anti-Jewish bias, Fredriksen wrote. One of Emmerich's visions had Jerusalem's high priest ordering that Jesus' cross be made in the courtyard of the temple (crucifixion was a Roman punishment, not a Jewish one); in another, Pilate criticizes the high priests for physically abusing Jesus.

<snip>

Sister Mary Boys said that initially she was concerned not so much by how "The Passion" would be received in the United States but by the possibility it could lead to real human-rights problems if it were shown in parts of the world where anti-Jewish sentiment is a way of life.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/6492789.htm