Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Apologize, please, for all the slurs against Christians

Isn’t it interesting how liberal critics can get away with saying anything they want about Christians? My favorite example of this free pass are the legion of self-appointed experts on anti-Semitism who said Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of The Christ” would ignite orgies of violence against Jews all over the world.

In their infinite wisdom and superior knowledge, they somberly proclaimed that because Christians in the past had attacked Jews after witnessing passion plays, they would do so again after seeing Mel Gibson’s film. Especially, so they said, because Gibson’s father is anti-Semitic and Gibson himself belongs to some schismatic branch of the Catholic faith that adheres to the Church’s pre-Vatican II anti-Semitic ways.

Not only were their assertions of a connection between “The Passion” and pogroms not examined, but their voices were given primacy of place in newspaper editorial pages, magazines, and TV shows of all sorts.

Yet, their dire predictions did not come true. To date, the number of reported incidents is zero. Moreover, the overwhelming response of movie-goers (who get the message) has been one of love and gratitude to Jesus Christ for suffering so horribly for our sakes. There are even documented stories of criminals turning themselves in after seeing “The Passion.”

Of course, we have yet to hear any apologies from the anti-Mel doom-sayers. In their world, it’s perfectly acceptable to make scandalous and corrosive claims about someone or something as long as it is a Christian or Christianity. However, Christians and the Catholic Church in particular are expected to collectively apologize for every wrong done in the name of Christianity, both real and imagined, over the past 2000 years: The Crusades, the Inquisition, slavery, misogyny, racism, imperialism, the Holocaust, etc. All of those things are fully or partially blamed on Christianity.

Yet, the message of Christ, as so eloquently depicted in the film, is one of unconditional love. It’s a message that has transformed the world for the better and provided the foundation for the development of all that is good and true in Western civilization.

Sure, individual Christians have done bad things and will always do so, but that is not an indictment of the faith itself. Being Christian doesn’t make you perfect; it just shows you the path to heavenly perfection. In “The Passion,” we saw how painful and difficult that path truly is.

So, I forgive these critics and I’m sure Mel does, too. I just wish they would have the honesty to admit when they’re wrong and perhaps examine the motivation behind the attacks.

Trey Hoffman

Peachtree City, Ga.

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