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Orthodox Union warns Passion film could weaken faith

NEW YORK - A major Jewish American Orthodox body Tuesday warned Jews that seeing Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ," which premiers Wednesday, could weaken their faith




Jews see the film and identify with the image of Jesus, they will dis-identify with their own God given Jewish identity. The result might be inner doubts about their Judaism," the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, Rabbi Dr.Tzvi Weinreb, said in a statement. The leaders of the Orthodox Union appealed to member synagogues to prepare what they called "an antidote to the potential challenge the film will create." They said rabbis should make special efforts "to educate and further motivate our community."

"My concern is for the effect that seeing this movie or even seeing part it, or reading about it, will have on my Jewish brothers and sisters, observant or non observant, old or young."

The Orthodox Union has distributed a video to member synagogues that includes various opinions on the film that were aired at a special symposium of rabbis and scholars in New York recently.

In France, meanwhile, Jean Marie Cardinal Lustiger, Archbishop of Paris, issued a statement on the controversial film: "In the last half century, Catholics and Jews have worked successfully to build respectful religious relations. We will not allow the controversy surrounding the film to damage [these] relations. Our faith, mutual respect, and understanding are stronger than any tempest that might damage these relations."

The archbishop's statement was also signed by the chairman of the World Jewish Congress, Rabbi Dr. Israel Singer.

In an interview in the New York Daily News, the Reverend Brian Travis Hooper, pastor of Washington Square United Methodist Church, said: "If you are just looking at the Passion you are leaving out some very important issues. Hooper said he feared "the renewed debate on who killed Christ will divert attention from ... and overshadow his spiritual messages on moral and ethical issues. "Reverend John Walton, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Greenwich Village who was also interviewed in the article, said he rejected the notion that "watching the violent end of Christ's life is a necessary part of understanding his life."
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