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Evangelicals hate Gibson's sin, love his 'Passion'

It has taken a couple of weeks, but the reviews from evangelical Christian leaders about Mel Gibson's latest performance are now in: they deplore his intemperate roadside speech but still love his "Passion of the Christ."
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It has taken a couple of weeks, but the reviews from evangelical Christian leaders about Mel Gibson's latest performance are now in.

Gibson's drunken remarks about "[expletive] Jews" being responsible for "all the wars in the world," which the actor made to a Los Angeles sheriff's deputy who pulled him over on July 28, were "hurtful and unfortunate" (James C. Dobson), "reprehensible . . . shameful" (the Rev. James Merritt) and "cause for concern" (the Rev. Ted Haggard).

But has the actor-director's intemperate speech by the side of a highway prompted any prominent evangelical leader to voice second thoughts about the portrayal of Jews in Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ"?

"Not as far as I know," said Haggard, who is president of the National Association of Evangelicals and senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

"This incident is not relevant in any way to 'The Passion of the Christ,' which is one of the finest films of this era," Dobson said in a statement issued Thursday by his organization, Focus on the Family.

Before "The Passion" came out in 2004, Gibson screened it privately for select audiences, including megachurch pastors. Many members of the clergy responded enthusiastically, urging their congregations to see it and rejecting the contention of some Jewish and Roman Catholic commentators that the film perpetuated the anti-Semitic message delivered by Passion plays through the ages: that the Jews killed Jesus.

Some of those who warmly embraced the "The Passion" two years ago have defended Gibson's character since his arrest and subsequent apology. ("I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge," Gibson said in a statement released by his publicist, Alan Nierob.)

"People say things when they're intoxicated that they don't necessarily mean. And I wasn't there, I didn't hear it," said the Rev. Garry Poole, director of spiritual discovery at Willow Creek Community Church, which draws about 20,000 people to its Sunday services in South Barrington, Ill.

"I met with Mel two times during pre-screenings [of "The Passion"], and I saw his heart to portray the life of Jesus the way the Bible portrays it," added Poole, who co-wrote a popular study guide to the movie. "I didn't see him as prejudiced at all in his actions or statements."

'That doesn't change my view of the film'
Merritt, pastor of Cross Pointe Church near Atlanta and a former president of the 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention, remembered that evangelicals who attended the pre-screenings asked Gibson, a Catholic, to add a brief scene at the end of the movie showing the resurrection of Jesus. Gibson did so, and evangelicals appreciated it, Merritt said.

"Obviously his recent comments were, to say the least, reprehensible and, as he said himself, shameful. That doesn't change my view of the film or make me believe that the film was anti-Semitic," Merritt said. "I don't believe there was any subliminal message by Mel Gibson that had any kind of anti-Semitic undertone to it at all."

Among the points repeatedly made by evangelicals in Gibson's defense are that he filmed his own hand nailing Jesus to the cross; he has apologized for his arrest remarks; and the virtues of a work of art should be considered separately from the sins of its creator.

Merritt said the highly publicized use of Gibson's hand in "The Passion" was a symbolic way of saying "that Christ was not primarily killed by the Jews; He died a voluntary death for the sins of the world, for the sins of us all."

Dobson's statement did not hesitate to label Gibson's comments anti-Semitic, but strongly denied that the label should be attached to his film.

"As is now generally known, Mel Gibson recently made some very hurtful and unfortunate anti-Semitic comments while under the influence of alcohol. We certainly do not condone that racially insensitive outburst," Dobson said. "Mel has apologized profusely for the incident and there the matter should rest. Mel has also indicated his willingness to seek help to overcome his alcoholism, and has asked the Jewish community for forgiveness. What more can he do?"

As for "The Passion," Dobson concluded: "Our endorsement of it stands as originally stated. We did not believe it was anti-Semitic in 2004, and our views have not changed since that time."

Haggard, who told the New York Times in 2004 that "Mel Gibson is the Michelangelo of this generation," refused last week to accept the alcohol defense.

"My view of alcohol is that it lowers inhibitions, and I think when people are drunk their inhibitions are removed and they say what they really think," Haggard said in a telephone interview.

He added, however, that "high-quality films, books and sermons are made, written and preached by severely imperfect people. The film stands on its own. It's a classic piece. People are going to watch it for the next 1,000 years, unless Christ returns."

Jody Eldred, an evangelical Protestant documentary filmmaker in Marina del Rey, Calif., said he believes that "anything that is created reflects the worldview of its creator." Two months after the release of "The Passion," Eldred came out with "Changed Lives: Miracle of the Passion," a television documentary about miracles that were said to occur as a result of Gibson's film.

One scene in the documentary concerns a couple who credit the film with inspiring prayers that saved their baby daughter from drowning. Another concerns a Jewish man in Florida who became a Christian after seeing "The Passion." Eldred said he considers the latter scene a strong answer to the charge of anti-Semitism.

"How can it be anti-Semitic if a Jewish man saw it, and it drew him into becoming a Christian?" Eldred asked. "In fact, Mel saw the documentary and that was one of his more favorite stories. He called me and we talked about it. Of course Mel was very pleased with that."