c. 2004 Religion News Service
Christian Leaders Urge Caution on `Passion’ DVD Release
(RNS) A group of nearly 100 Christian theologians urged caution and expressed concern about “misrepresentations” of Jews in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” as the blockbuster film was released on DVD.
A statement signed by 97 theologians, pastors and other church officials said the “visually powerful portrayal” of the death of Jesus in Gibson’s film includes “numerous explicitly anti-Jewish elements that we consider an affront to the gospel.”
“It encourages misunderstanding of the role of Jews and their leaders in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ death; it includes gratuitous anti-Jewish portrayals; and its promotion by Christians has largely ignored the pain and concern of the Jewish community about the film,” the statement said.
The statement was coordinated by John Merkle, a professor of theology at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University in Minnesota, and Peter Pettit, director of the Institute for Christian-Jewish Understanding at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa.
The statement echoes concerns by some Jewish groups that the film could fuel more anti-Semitism in private viewing than it did in theaters, where it made $600 million in box offices around the world.
Gibson has defended the film as a historically accurate depiction of Jesus’ suffering and death and strongly rejected charges of anti-Semitism. Since its DVD/VHS release Aug. 31, the film has sold nearly 9 million copies, breaking the record held by “The Lord of the Rings” series for sales of a live-action movie.
The signers said they were not questioning the faith of Gibson or his legions of Christian fans. Still, they said the film contains “factual misrepresentations” and “age-old anti-Semitic stereotypes of coldblooded Jewish power conspiring to control historical events.”
They also had strong words for their Christian colleagues. “We … find it lamentable that Christian leaders so easily pass over its anti-Jewish character in favor of what they perceive to be its positive aspects,” the signers said.
Notable signers included Harvey Cox and Karen King of Harvard Divinity School, Mary Boys of Union Theological Seminary, former Swedish Lutheran Bishop Krister Stendahl and the Rev. John Pawlikowski, director of the Bernardin Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Number of Death Sentences Tumbles, Watchdog Group Says
WASHINGTON (RNS) A study by the Death Penalty Information Center shows that the number of court-imposed death sentences has dropped substantially in recent years as more juries opt instead for life in prison.
The Washington-based watchdog group said 116 innocent people have been released from death row since 1973, making juries reluctant to issue death sentences if they are not convinced the capital punishment system is fair.
“The issue of innocence and the powerful personal stories that have thrust this crisis into the public eye have done more to change the death penalty in this country than anything,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the center.
The report, “Innocence and the Crisis in the American Death Penalty,” was released Wednesday (Sept. 15). It said cases involving inadequate legal counsel, judicial misconduct and access to advanced DNA testing had freed people from death row.
The report showed 143 death sentences issued last year, the lowest number since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. During the 1990s, an average of 290 people were sentenced to death, but that figure has averaged 174 since 2000.
Death penalty supporters and prosecutors, meanwhile, argue that the report’s figures are inflated _ the real number of exonerations is about 20 to 30, they say. “You’re talking about an extremely small, microscopic number,” Ward Campbell, a supervising deputy state attorney general in Sacramento, Calif., told The New York Times.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Poll: Teens More Likely to Ask Friends Than Clergy for Ethics Advice
(RNS) Teens are far more likely to seek out their friends for help with ethical decisions than to ask a member of the clergy, a poll shows.
Eighty-three percent of teens said they would turn to their friends for help in making such choices, followed by their parents (68 percent), teachers (27 percent), the Internet (24 percent) and clergy (14 percent).
Harris Interactive conducted the poll for Junior Achievement, an organization focused on educating young people about business, and Deloitte & Touche, a major accounting firm.
The poll also showed that almost one-third of teens surveyed think they have to “bend the rules to succeed.” A smaller percentage _ 20 percent _ gave that answer in a similar poll last year.
“These poll results indicate that teens are getting mixed messages, so we continue to believe that ethics education must begin early, during formative years,” said James H. Quigley, CEO of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, in a statement.
David S. Chernow, president and CEO of Junior Achievement Worldwide, added: “It is imperative that we as adults emphasize the importance of ethics to our young people in order to keep our free enterprise system, and our nation, strong.”
The survey of 624 students was drawn from a larger Harris Interactive poll conducted via e-mail and it was weighted demographically to represent the nation. Conducted in July, it has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
Following information is suitable for a graphic:
Who Teens Turn to for Help in Making Ethical Decisions
Friends: 83 percent
Parents: 68 percent
Teachers: 27 percent
Internet: 24 percent
Clergy: 14 percent
Source: Junior Achievement/Deloitte & Touche
_ Adelle M. Banks
Appeals Court Dismisses Request to Reconsider Roe v. Wade
(RNS) A federal appellate court has dismissed a suit from the woman plaintiff in the Roe v. Wade case who tried to challenge the Supreme Court’s decades-old decision legalizing abortion.
Norma McCorvey, the Dallas woman known as “Jane Roe,” thought the case should be reheard in light of evidence that abortion may harm women. Her protest of Texas’ ban on abortion led to the landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1973.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans dismissed her suit against the Dallas County district attorney, the Associated Press reported.
A three-judge panel said it was moot because the state has not had a law addressing abortion for more than 30 years.
McCorvey is now a vocal critic of abortion.
Last year, a federal court in Dallas threw out her request to have the ruling reconsidered. She filed her latest motion in June.
Allan Parker, director of the San Antonio-based Texas Justice Foundation, which is representing McCorvey, said she will appeal.
“We’ve always known that this case will be ultimately decided by the Supreme Court,” he said. “We will be successful at the Supreme Court level.”
Rachel Horton, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Bill Hill, said Hill was named in the suit only because he is the successor to the district attorney in the original lawsuit.
“Mr. Hill has no responsibility to enforce that law so therefore it is a moot issue for us,” she said.
Quote of the Day: Talk Show Host Oprah Winfrey
(RNS) “I have a little ritual: Every time I pass the front of my house I sing `Jesus Loves Me,’ and the other day I remember I was jogging past _ and now it’s like a superstition _ I had gotten past without saying it and went back, `Jesus loves me! Jesus loves me!”’
_ Talk show host Oprah Winfrey, in an interview with USA Today.
MO/PH END RNS
