Is Mel Gibson's Movie, "The Passion of the Christ" full of piss?
                           by Daren Dillenger




Years before the movie The Passion of the Christ was made, Andres Serrano made an infamous photograph of a crucifix submerged in a jar of urine. This work of Art makes a statement and/or beckons a question. Is the Passion of a crucified so-called christ full of piss? That’s the question we shall explore through Mel Gibson’s new movie.
In order to answer Andres Serrano within this small insignificant essay, I’ll try to explore the controversy that surrounds this film, the Faith message it attempts to present, and my viewpoints of the film’s integrity. To clarify, the viewpoints within this article may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the publisher, but since the mission of Movement Magazine is to provide a Free Thought forum, their consistency encouraged me to submit this essay for print. I salute Movement for their integrity of healthy discourse.
As a self-described classical Liberal, I decided to withhold judgment to find out for myself whether this film lived up to the controversy of being Anti-Semitic. Second, I wanted to find out if this film lived up to its claim of providing a potential positive religious experience. Third, I wanted to determine if this film is another weakly produced Left Behind1, a cheesily made Omega Code2, a Christian movie pandering to the self-described American Conservative Christian Orthodox3.
First, I’d like to explore the controversy about the movie being Anti-Semitic. After I saw the film, I could clearly see how those at the Anti-Defamation League and some people within the Jewish community would feel very uncomfortable seeing this. The film showed a portrayal of Jewish religious leaders who did not like the message expressed by this rebel rouser Galilean, Jesus of Nazareth. As outlined in the movie, in the synoptic Gospels, and within non-Biblical texts; a man called Jesus went before a Jewish Court to be tried as a blasphemer. This theocratic court convicted Jesus of Nazareth as a heretic. Heretics were subject to death by Jewish law. Therefore, what did this film illustrate that would upset the Anti-Defamation League and some Jewish people? The film illustrated an example of Theocratic Facism4!
When any religion is given any type of temporal power to impose theological litmus tests, Theocratic Fascism always manifests itself! Whether Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, coercive ideologues exist in every single movement, be it religious or secular! I feel that some within the Jewish community cannot accept that, in history and/or even in the present, there exists Fundamentalism within Judaism. For example, it was not an Arafat inspired suicide bomber that killed the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, but a Fundamentalist Jew.
Bottom line, in my opinion there is no Anti-Semitism in Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ. It does contain another embarrassing example of what intolerant ideologues can do with power to create conformity. In my opinion, the same kind of religious Fundamentalism that lead 19 Muslims to crash into the Twin Towers is the same intolerant extremism that lead to Jesus to be arrested and tried for blasphemy before the Sanherdin5. In fact, the sin of coercive Religious Extremism has to be one of the biggest sins that Christ died for, since it was the sin of intolerance from Conservative Fundamentalists that led to getting Jesus of Nazerath killed. For the record, the Roman government did the actual capital punishment of Jesus of Nazareth and I do not believe in the Deicide6.
With that said, it is time to discover if this film delivered and provided patrons a Spirit-filled religious experience. Mel Gibson, in my opinion, succeeded in creating a masterpiece of cinema that only a clinical psychopath would be unmoved after seeing. I could be like Roger Ebert and outline why I give this movie two thumbs up, but I prefer a different approach since I do not consider myself a formal movie critic.
It’s been weeks since I have watched Mel Gibson’s movie about the last 12 hours in the life of a man called Jesus, and everyday a thought about the film comes to mind. Images of the film have provoked me to meditate about this film for hours.
Some within the Evangelical Christian community believe that this movie is an ideal prostylizing tool. My feelings are, what if you have no frame of reference regarding the identity of historical Jesus and His times? Then The Passion of the Christ could come across as a snuff film. Therefore, my suggestion is to see the film if you have some background in Christianity. If you don’t, then I would not waste my time.
I absolutely believe this film has immense integrity. The Passion of the Christ will never be categorized in the cheesy genre of wholesome Christian Family Entertainment. Anyone in Jacksonville, FL who wishes to gain a taste of this genre can tune in to the Promise7 and TBN8. Some have asked if The Passion of the Christ is another film made for the Religious Right for the purpose of money and success. I think not! If that was Mel Gibson’s agenda, then there would have been less violence, the movie would have been rated PG-13 instead of R, and non-Catholic theology would have been emphasized instead of the traditional Roman interpretation.
Surprisingly, Evangelicals Christians have been this movie’s biggest attendees. They typically don’t even view Roman Catholicism as a valid stream of Christianity. Almost all non-Catholics view Roman Catholics as hereticsm, and to be fair, Catholics look at them as Heretics. Regardless, the movie is, in essence, a Roman Catholic interpretation of the suffering of Jesus down to the symbolic stations of the cross, which any Catholic would recognize.
Before I close, I hope no one out there who may be antireligious (i.e. an Atheist) feels that they are immune from being associated with ideological intolerance. No one is immune and no person is exempt.
Anyone that is a citizen of any country, political party, racial group, and/or Religion has some horrible element within their lineage. As much as the Court historians9 and hagiographers10 of every culture try to tone down the nasty side of their history, I believe by Divine Providence the gritty truth always bubbles up eventually. From Stalin’s Atheistic inspired utopian gulags to the Roman Catholic Crusades for spreading the Gospel and the USA giving smallpox-ridden blankets to the American Indians under the guise of “compassionate conservative” Christmas gifts, the truth always comes out in the end.
Finally, my answer to Andres Serrano’s question is Yes and No.
First, the explaination of my yes. I believe Andres Serrano’s submerged crucified christ on a cross in urine is not directed to the actual Jesus but instead to the unblemished Brooks Brothers jesus that would blend in perfectly at an Amway meeting passing out Prayer of Jabez books11. My belief is that Andres Serrano’s christ is for the people who call themselves Christian but treat others without dignity, respect, and/or mistreat those they think are blasphemous or heretically. A few examples of those mistreated groups are homosexuals, Mormons, and Samaritans.
In fact, based on what I’ve studied, from its inception Authentic Christianity is an anti-establishment movement that the ruling classes of society have always tried to suppress, water down, corrupt, and control because of its revolutionary dimensions. Jesus himself was put to death by the ruling establishment of His day because He posed a threat to the socio-religious order of Israel. His enemies recognized that Jesus was committed to turn inside and out any institution that had any class structures based on race, religion, sex, orientation, wealth, or exploitation of the poor. On the cross, Jesus exposed the socio-religious system of His day for what it was, and His death clearly demonstrates that the socioreligious system of our day is also His enemy.
What I just described is not the Brooks Brothers jesus, nor the symbolic representation submerge in Andres Serrano’s piss, but the Jesus in the Gospels whose 12 hours are captured in The Passion of the Christ! That’s my No and why.

If after reading this if anyone wants to call me on the carpet for any errors and/or disagree with my viewpoint, feel free to e-mail at macmagi@fcol.com .

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Terms:

1. Left Behind is a movie inspired by the successful book series of the same name that describes an interpretation of what the end of time will be.
2. Omega Code is a movie inspired by the book The Bible Code describing an interpretation of what the end of times will be.
3. American Conservative Christian Orthodox is a term that I have coined to describe the so-called modern pure practitioners of American Christianity. People within this group feel they are orthodox in there worship, lifestyle, and faith. However, in actuality they have little to no actual association with streams of Christianity that have any historical Orthodoxy whatsoever. For example, Southern Baptists either don’t know about the Egyptian Christian Coptics (who are direct decedents of the Apostles) or think they are heretics.
4. Theocratic Fascism is when any religious institution uses any power or influence they may have to physically coerce any person to forward and/or maintain so-called right worship, correct teaching, perfect interpretation, and proper lifestyle choices.
5. Sanhedrin - Jewish Court of Religious Law.
6. Deicide - In certain Christian Church formal teaching, a label that the Jewish people are completely culpable of killing Jesus Christ, thus deserving curses.
7. Promise - Jacksonville, Florida’s FM 106.5 with a music format of Comtemprary Christian music.
8. TBN -Trinity Broadcast Network. In Jacksonville, FL. It is cable channel 13 or UHF 59 with the format of Conservative Evangelical offering entertainment from worship service and talk shows to movies.
9. Court Historians - are Historians who skew historical facts to create false syllogisms.
10. Hagiographers - Biographers that beatified historical figures and purposely avoid the negative sections of who they are writing about.
11. Prayer of Jabez - is a prayer of an obscure person Jabez in the Old Testament that had been exploited by some capitalist Christians to be used as a prayer to get rich.