Gibson: Faith, hope -- not blame for Crucifixion -- at 'Passion' core

Published: 2004-02-17

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Blaming Jews for the death of Jesus is not the point of "The Passion of the Christ," said its director, Mel Gibson, in a Feb. 16 interview on ABC's "Primetime." "It's not about pointing the fingers. It's not about playing the blame game," Gibson told interviewer Diane Sawyer. "It's about faith, hope, love and forgiveness. ... It is reality for me. ... I believe that." When Sawyer asked him who killed Christ, Gibson replied: "The big answer is, we all did. I'll be first in the culpability stakes." Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, also interviewed on the program, said he did not believe that either Gibson or his film were anti-Semitic, but repeated his belief that "this movie has the potential to fuel anti-Semitism, to reinforce it." Gibson said that to be anti-Semitic "goes against the tenets of my faith, to be racist in any form. To be anti-Semitic is a sin. It's been condemned by one papal council after another. There's encyclicals on it ... to be anti-Semitic is to be un-Christian, and I'm not."

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .