Dear Editor of the Clock,After reading Dustin Siggins’ article, “Reader speaks out with Christian concerns,” I am not sure what Dustin’s concerns were, nor that he offered persuasive evidence for them. He states that, “Christians are the last acceptable prejudice in America,” and then attempts to support this with the public reaction towards two separate movies, The Da Vinci Code versus The Passion of the Christ.Dustin decries the lack of historical content in The Da Vinci Code and the lack of public out-rage surrounding it as a case for Christian prejudices. He then champions the historical accuracy of, The Passion of the Christ.While there could be a wonderful discussion about how Christianity and other faiths are viewed in the media, I think Dustin’s use of faith portrayed in film does not make material for a solid debate. It is nearly impossible to re-create a historical account of Christ or Christianity, and no film will ever be able to claim to have done so.Even the movie The Passion of the Christ, that Mr. Siggins believes is historically accurate and biblical, is not such a film. Dustin writes, “I saw only the true history of the last day of Jesus Christ’s day on Earth as described by the Holy Bible.” Honestly, that is not what anyone saw in the movie. First, it would be rather difficult to make an accurate historical film about any ancient event, particularly the passion of Christ. There are four different gospel writers who all described the events of Jesus’ last days differently. Their inspiration for writing was not historical, but theological and spiritual. The Gospel authors had our relationship with God in mind and not Hollywood script writers.Further more, what you saw was not a biblical based movie but Mel Gibson’s interpretation of the Stations of the Cross. The Stations of the Cross are a wonderful and powerful Catholic devotion that hopes to capture a spiritual communion with Christ’s suffering and death, but the devotion is not “biblically” accurate in all cases. Neither is Mel Gibson’s interpretation of this devotion. You will not find the story of Mary washing Jesus’ blood from the floor, Jesus inventing the chair, Veronica washing the face of Jesus or an encounter between Mary and the wife of Pontius Pilate, anywhere in scripture.I would not build my faith on film or measure America’s attitude towards faith based upon a couple of movies. If Christianity is under attack in this country then please make a more lucid argument for your case.Finally, despite the horrible acts of violence presently in our world, Christianity and Islam are religions of peace.
Peace,
Preston FullerUnited Campus MinisterPlymouth State University