I see more evidence of Christ's Passion in the DU Lounge...

... than I do in Mel Gibson's movie.

I've been happy to call myself a "radical left wing Catholic."

I was taught from a very early age to see Christ in everyone, and to see "The Passion of the Christ" in the suffering of my fellow human beings.

I'm not entirely Catholic-twisted, not in that steely street fighter watch-them-die Mother Theresa sort of way, but I'm still finding it hard to understand how cheap acting and special effects will bring anyone closer to Christ than the real life stories -- the real life passions -- that are told every day by living people.

The Bible clearly tells the story of the Passion as it should be, as it was written long before we had cinema. I can't help but think any further illustrations of "The Passion of Christ" should be drawn from our own real-life experiences.

You might start here in the DU lounge, where we have everything from the loss of pet cats, to girls who cut themselves (I have too much experience with that), to BartCop's cancer, to dying parents, spouses, and children.

I think if we view Christ in historical terms, maybe as a character in a violent movie by Mel Gibson, He becomes more distant and less accessible to the average person.

How many people are going to watch this movie and think of the innocent people who are suffering today? How many people are going to watch this movie and recognize the Pharisees and Pontius Pilates who walk among us?

Instead I see people saying, "Yeah, yeah, thank you Jesus, you died for my sins. Yeah, yeah, thank you Mel Gibson for showing me how it was way back then. Hey, look at me everybody! It is good to be Christian! Christ died for ME!"

Or even worse, "I didn't kill Jesus, the Jews did!"

If Mel Gibson takes the proceeds of this movie and makes another movie about Christ's life and the Resurrection, and if he is somehow able to bring this story forward into the world as it is today, and if he then donates every last dime he makes (and maybe more) towards making this world a better place, maybe then I will watch his "Passion." (And no, "making the world a better place" does not mean paying homeless men to put pamphlets against Planned Parenthood under the windshield wipers of every car in every church parking lot in America...)

Until then, until Mel Gibson casts away his pretenses, or until I can cast away my own, I must confess I will be cynical.

Perhaps I am Greek, as in 1 Corinthians 1.22-24:

"For Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom, but we preach about a crucified Christ, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Greeks. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God."

Perhaps I am wrong to so fiercely criticize something that is the making of a man's true heart, a man's true vision. If so, I ask for "enlightenment," maybe like Sean Connery did in the third Indiana Jones movie. (But I'd rather not be shot, please...)