It’s opening night of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ and everyone seems to have an opinion. I haven’t seen it yet (I have tickets for Friday night), so I won’t comment on the content of the movie yet, but this much is clear already. The main dividing line between those who like it and those who don’t is belief in the truth of Christianity.
I don’t have a problem with this, after all, truth is the crux of the issue. I just wish people would admit it so that we could move the discussion to the proper subject. Is Christianity accurate about reality or not? Was Jesus God or not? Let’s talk about, for Pete’s sake. All this time spent trashing the movie because of anti-Semitism (free subscription required) and violence is shallow and unconvincing if left without its theological basis. This L.A. Times skewing is a little more thorough – the reviewer clearly disdains that Mel actually believes the Bible is literal truth – but even here that point is left unexplored and unsupported.