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[Press release: source]
Department of Justice Petitioned to Evaluate
Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” for Violations of Hate Crime Statutes
A
new petition implores US Attorney
General John Ashcroft to evaluate
possible actions against the
creators of Mel Gibson’s “The
Passion” for violation of state and
federal hate crime statutes in the
purposeful encouragement of
anti-Semitic violence.
UNION, NJ (PRWEB) March 10, 2004 —
Mel Gibson‘s
“The Passion of the Christ,” through purposeful rewriting of the Christian
Gospel mythos has, itself, become an anti-Semitic diatribe which, since it’s
February 25, 2004 release resulted in hate crimes against Jews, Synagogues and Jewish Cemeteries in cities throughout the US.
Mel Gibson’s unbiblical and a-historical account of the “crucifixion” story has taken
Hutton Gibson‘s claims that the
Holocaust is “fiction,” even one step further.
Just as Adolf Hitler
described the 300th anniversary performance of the Oberammergau Passion
Play as “a convincing portrayal of the menace of Jewry” in 1934, Gibson and
Writer/producer Tom Fontana‘s
2004 use of extreme graphic and excessive violence set up and perpetrated at the urging of “the Jews” in their portrayal displays a clear prejudicial bent against the Jewish faith.
Roman Catholic Biblical Scholar
Father Gerald Caron, Professor of Biblical Studies at the Atlantic
School of Theology in Halifax,
[Nova
Scotia], calls Gibson’s film
“anti-Jewish, theologically flawed and historically dubious.”
In an interview with Rabbi Tovia
Singer for Israel National Radio on the date of the film’s release, Dr.
Caron stated
“The teaching of contempt
— hate of the Jews or hate of their
religion — is part and parcel of
Christian history. This is a
Christian problem that we have to
get rid of, and its not a movie like
this one that will help us continue
our efforts to get rid of the
denigration and condemnation of our
Jewish brothers and sisters.”
United State law defines “bias related” or “hate crime” to mean a
“designated act that demonstrates an accused’s prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, family responsibility, physical handicap, matriculation, or political affiliation of a victim of the subject designated act.” Depending on the state, criminal and / or civil laws may apply, as well as recently enacted Federal statutes.