Wednesday, March 3, 2004

Gibson’s ‘masochistic Christianity’ is grotesque

For Lent, why not meditate on Mel Gibson’s horror movie, “The Passion.” Is there something inherent in our Judeo-Christian culture and psyche which is demonic, that is, obsessed with incivility, brutality, oppression, violence, torture, bloodshed, inhumanity, barbarism, cruelty, war, and death?

To sit in a theatre seat for several hours, to pay for such a movie as religious entertainment or art, and to subject oneself to such grotesque barbarism, Roman crucifixion, lynching, and death scene, all under the guise of historical Biblical truth, is pure and simple masochism, self-inflicted punishment.

To encourage innocent children and youth, even old religious saints, to relive such a nasty, brutal, and ugly page of Jewish history, is pure sadism. Why would religious leaders inflict such gory human suffering, hatred, and pathos upon their parishioners in the name of God, religion, or social justice? It is insanity by religious sadists.

Every literate Christian has read the sketches of Christ’s crucifixion in the four New Testament Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are obscene snapshots of Roman Imperialism in the Middle East between 63 B.C. and A.D. 200. And if the Jewish deity was culpable in these war crimes perpetrated by the geopolitical superpower who literally sacrificed his only son, what does that say about God?

Christian Jews, smarting under Roman oppression, glorified their messianic martyr, Jesus of Nazareth. The Romans (Governor Pontius Pilate) put the blame on the Jewish establishment in Jerusalem (Caiaphas and company). The Jews, however, put the onus on the Roman occupiers.

Modern Christians seem to hold God responsible for Christ’s death and sacrifice, if I understand their queer theology. Is this what we mean by the “Death of God”?

This ancient death scene of Christ is reenacted every year on Good Friday with passion plays. It stirs up the primal instincts, passions, and impulses buried deeply in our human psyche for violence, hatred, torture, and war.

Could this ancient religious rite, annual catharsis of death and dying, be therapeutic, sane, and redemptive? Is this how we inspire religion, new birth, and Christians via sadism and masochism; i.e., religious guilt? Are our modern religious minds so distorted and convoluted, and human souls so deprived, that we actually gain some sexual pleasure by exposing ourselves to human pain, suffering, torture, and guilt?

Actually, there is nothing new about Mel Gibson’s theater. I heard it and saw it all as an abused boy growing up in the church. It is Bible Belt Religion, that “ol’ time religion” of mental and emotional torture, bloodshed, and backwoods lynching. Grotesque barbarism!

A masochist will treat himself/herself to this quasi-religious movie; and a sadist will seduce his best friend, child, or mother-in-law to view this ancient atrocity and call it “religious art,” “historical truth,” and “Christian Gospel.”

Ed Nelson

Peachtree City, Ga.

[Nelson identifies himself as a retired clergyman and a 41-year member of the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church.]