Albert Mohler, the Southern Baptist seminary president, has become one of my favorite people to read. He is the Pat Robertson of his generation: a Christian who has aligned his theology with the extreme right-wing of the Republican Party. Mohler attacks gays, women, Democrats, and anyone else who might disagree with his interpretation of Scripture. Reading his commentaries gives you a glimpse into the darkest parts of religious America.
One of his new targets is Jewish leaders in America who have raised questions about Mel Gibson’s new film The Passion of the Christ. He writes:
The Passion has offended the usual parties--those who accuse the Gospel of anti-semitism. Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League wrote Gibson a public letter raising "serious concerns about the film you are making about the last hours of the life of Jesus." Foxman also asked "to be assured that it will not give rise to the old canard of charging Jews with deicide and to anti-Semitism." Similar concerns were raised by officials at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
The issue of anti-Semitism is not even really relevant to the discussion. It tell(s) us far more about the despisers of Christianity than about Christianity itself.
Mohler speaks for a large number of evangelical Christians. He has used Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he serves as President, as a training ground for conservative activists opposed to modern society – even modern scholarship.
Braveheart doesn't care what liberal theologians think of his film--nor should he. Those who accuse the New Testament of anti-Semitism deserve no place at the table. They represent the academic enablers of anti-Christianity. Their Jesus bears little resemblance to the true Jesus of the gospels, but looks remarkably like an open-minded liberal ready for tenure at the Harvard Divinity School.
Viewers beware: The Passion of the Christ is a movie made for people like Albert Mohler. It may have little to do with the reality of Jesus.
