Foes of faulty logic

As a Jew and a film scholar who admires Tim Rutten’s reporting and was appalled by Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” I must, in the interest of fairness, object to the self-serving illogic of Rutten’s recent attack on the film (“ ‘Passion’ Changes Hearts, Minds,” April 10).

Gibson’s gore fest may indeed have encouraged a rise in anti-Semitism, especially among the history-challenged young, but it strains credulity to take this as a fait accompli based solely on the recent Pew study Rutten cites. How can a “statistically significant” increase in the number of young people who regard Jews as responsible for Christ’s death possibly be meaningfully linked to “The Passion” when the recent survey is being compared with one made in 1997?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that other factors in the past seven years also may have contributed to such an uptick. Bad science is the last thing to use against a state-of-the-art film that rejects science altogether.

Vincent Brook

Los Angeles

*

Yes, maybe more people now are aware of what occurred historically -- Jesus was crucified at the behest of his people, Jews -- but that does not equate to anti-Semitism. Since the opening of this film, I have yet to witness any anti-Semitic actions -- only anti-Christian ones, such as Rutten’s article. I’m beginning to believe that Jews who are so opposed to this film won’t be satisfied unless they provoke some type of “anti-Semitic” action so they can substantiate the victim mentality some of them are promoting.

Hillary O’Kelly

Thousand Oaks

*

No person had more responsibility for Jesus’ death than Jesus. Not the Pharisees or Sadducees, not the Romans, not the multitudinous thousands who witnessed his miracles and benefited from his largess yet did nothing to save him when he was set upon. Clearly, Jesus, by going along with the behavior of his tormentors when he alone among humans had the power to stop it, is responsible for his own death.

But of course, we are told there was another who could have stopped the scourging, the torture, the brutality, the state-sanctioned murder that is execution. One above all others who could have saved this fragile life and made an example of the iniquities of his oppressors: God. His Father.

As a father, I would die a thousand deaths before I would allow anyone to treat my son (or daughter) with such brutal disdain. But God, as usual, did nothing. Just sat back and let it happen.

Yet so many self-proclaimed Christians are ready to cast the stones of blame at the bit-part players while ignoring the principals. No God who cared about his chosen people would leave them in horrific slavery for over 400 years. No God who cared about his illegitimate son (he wasn’t, after all, married to Mary) would allow him to endure such horrible brutality.

The death of Jesus falls on the heads of the two who could have stopped it. To blame the others is to blame the actors while exonerating the writer and the director. One would think that Mel Gibson would know this.

Craig N. Simmons

Granada Hills