The Hatred of Jews

Ramesh Ponnuru makes some points with which I agree, but I think he had the same problem I do. It's hard for a Christian — wishing to be respectful — to know what to say about Charles Krauthammer's take on The Passion of the Christ. This, for example, takes exactly the opposite message from my assessment:

The most subtle, and most revolting, of these has to my knowledge not been commented upon. In Gibson's movie, Satan appears four times. Not one of these appearances occurs in the four Gospels. They are pure invention. Twice, this sinister, hooded, androgynous embodiment of evil is found . . . where? Moving among the crowd of Jews. Gibson's camera follows close up, documentary style, as Satan glides among them, his face popping up among theirs -- merging with, indeed, defining the murderous Jewish crowd. After all, a perfect match: Satan's own people.

If somebody asked what Satan's presence in the crowd might mean, I would think it quite obvious to suggest that it was an indication that he was acting through the crowd. That it was his presence in the world that riled them up and led them astray. That's basic Christian theology; God loves all people, and while we are culpable for our own sins, it is more the culpability of falling to Satan than originating evil. In fact, although I didn't make a mental note of it, I'm pretty sure that this very presence of Satan struck me as a deliberate attempt to divert blame from the Jews. I thought it much more a direct association when he appeared at the scourging with that baby-thing that looked (to me, anyway) like it had the same face as the head Roman torturer.

Consider what Krauthammer is insisting, however. At what point, I'm compelled to ask, does a Jewish man's concern about anti-Semitism begin to indicate that he, in fact, is anti-Christian in the same deplorable, selective, hateful way? I mean, look at this, particularly coming from a famed "neoconservative" (a group among whom I tend to count myself):

Muslims have their story: God's revelation to the final prophet. Jews have their story: the covenant between man and God at Sinai.

Christians have their story too: the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Why is this story different from other stories? Because it is not a family affair of coreligionists.

Christianity is alone among the monotheistic religions in having a "religious story" that "involves other people"? What religious texts has Krauthammer been reading? I'm more inclined to argue than to claim offense, but that, one can objectively say, is extremely offensive. Not the least because it's wrong. Christ came from among the Jews to form a new covenant with them, and to open up the "family affair" to everybody, regardless of ethnicity. In that context, this expands on Krauthammer's erroneous claim:

Because of that peculiarity, the crucifixion is not just a story; it is a story with its own story -- a history of centuries of relentless, and at times savage, persecution of Jews in Christian lands. This history is what moved Vatican II, in a noble act of theological reflection, to decree in 1965 that the Passion of Christ should henceforth be understood with great care so as to unteach the lesson that had been taught for almost two millennia: that the Jews were Christ killers.

The early history of Christianity was of persecution. Very early on, and throughout Gibson's movie, all Christians are Jews — ethnically and religiously. Worse, Krauthammer is essentially calling Christianity, right down to its core, an illegitimately hostile religion, which was only corrected by clarification in the 1960s.

In its way, that's a legitimate claim, from a certain perspective. But making such a broad assertion in one of the nation's major newspapers seems to me much more of an "act of interreligious aggression" than Gibson's movie. If there's any interreligious friction arising from the release of this movie, excuse me if I can't come around to seeing it as originating with Christians.