The latest issue of the New Yorker has a long and in some ways interesting profile of Mel Gibson and The Passion. The most interesting parts are the interviews with and comments of Gibson himself; his words have so far gotten much less attention in this matter than have the opinions of people only tangentially associated with the project. Much of the article, though, concerns the question of whether or not The Passion will be bigoted, hateful, and so on and so forth.
This is the anniversary of the worst atrocity ever committed on North American soil, committed by Moslems. Last week saw the 101st bombing carried out by Moslems in Israel, and took the number of Jewish dead past 800 in the past three years. A Moslem bomber killed Australians at a resort in Bali. Indian Moslem rioters killed Hindus in India. In central Africa Moslems continue their violent persecution of Christians, especially Anglicans. Closer to home the RCMP has found frightening numbers of Moslem would-be-terrorists living in Canada. Our government is not only quiet about this but seems quite nonchalant about the horrific treatment of Canadians in Saudi Arabia, the ideological source of much of the above violence.
In this climate, in a time in which a significant part of the world has openly declared war on Western civilization, many public intellectuals are at long last questioning the relationship between murder, hatred and religion. And the target of their inquiry is traditional Catholicism. The West has indeed lost its mind.
Posted by Clio at September 11, 2003 02:53 PM