[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.

 

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A digital petition

 

• implores US Attorney General John Ashcroft and the US Department of Justice to evaluate the anti-Semitism clearly presented in Gibson and Fontana's portrayal, and asks that civil, criminal, and Federal hate-crime laws, as appropriate, be utilized not only against the perpetrators involved in each and every act which it has encouraged, but against the directors, producers, and screen writers responsible for the work itself.

 

The Messiah Truth Project, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization established to combat the deceptive missionary techniques of evangelical Christian denominations and the Messianic movements through Torah education. Tax-deductible contributions may be made by mailing a check or money order to: Messiah Truth Project, Inc., P.O. Box 445, Union, NJ 07083-0445.

 

 

Our website dossier on the origins of anti-Semitism

 

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