I think I will take a counter point on the violence. This should not be seen as an approval or disapproval of the film or Gibson's politics.

I remember the hue and cry about the violence in Braveheart, also The Patriot, but very little (on the discord front) about the violence in Saving Private Ryan. I suspect that is because that was from "The Good War". I must tell you that I want people to see violence as it actually is. I want the scourging to make you sick to your stomach. I don't want war flicks that show combat death as a sterile, valiant thing. You may take it from me. It is not pretty, nor valiant, nor honorable. I want Joe and Jane America to understand what it is like to watch someone scared, babbling, blowing bubbles, and crying for their families as they breath their last. It is in the horror and revulsion that one understands the cost. And when one does, then they are not so quick to send these beautiful young people off to face it. When I watch Braveheart, or The Patriot, and I suspect, The Passion (which I am not sure that I will see) I imagine I will see battle and death as it was in those days. Seems to me that, in the context of Christ's Passion (used in the Greek context of suffering) that if one understands what a scourging is and it's effects, they will have greater understanding of what Our Lord's gift to us was.

I suspect much of this discussion is spawned by those who just don't like Gibson's politics. Fair enough, I dislike them as well. But I see much of the discussion getting bogged down on issues that are phoney. For example, the whole anti-semitism piece. I hear one side implying the Sanhedrin had nothing to do with the killing. The other side acting like they were the sole reason. The simple truth of it is that the Sanhedrin (as opposed to "the Jews"), according to the Gospels, were absolutely involved. Hence they had culpability. Further, there is no question who did the killing. It was the Romans. And they had culpability. But any serious scholar of faith also knows that this was preordained. It was an act by God. It was set in motion with the birth of the beautiful child. It could as well have been the Irish, the English, the Maori, doesn't matter a whit to Christian who "pulled the trigger". It had to happen to provide for wo/mankind's redemption. It was the ultimate expression of love and delivered the ultimate message.

Love one another, as I have loved you. Seems like good salts to me.

All the best,

Mick