Sermon in celluloid – Preaching at the Movies

I ran to see Gibson’s Passion this week. It was a most heart-wrenching film with universal themes of Jesus’ compassion. The graphic violence was overdone and more suited for the Dark Ages than 2004. Mass media in all its forms in America has a unique responsibility to guide the nonviolent tenor of religious discourse. While Jesus and Christianity were certainly portrayed as compassionate, which I honor as a Muslim, I could not avoid feeling like I was being proselytized by a movie that goes a bit beyond education at a time when minority faiths struggle for equal representation and consideration. This comment originally appeared online at the Arizona Republic at this link. http://www.azcentral.com/specials/pluggedin/articles/0228jasser0229passion.html