TORONTO, March 23, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The only two “experts” CBC used to comment on the latest spate of anti-Semitic atrocities in Toronto have used the occasion to bash Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ. Against the backdrop of Jewish graves that were recently desecrated in a cemetery and swastikas being painted on the doors of some holocaust survivors, CBC National last night quoted two “experts” who fingered Gibson’s film as “igniting anti-Jewish sentiment.” First quoted on CBC was Ed Morgan of the Canadian Jewish Congress who said, “There is something out there that is inspiring Jews as a target,” and in an obvious reference to the Passion said “in cinemas.” As if that wasn’t clear enough, CBC then cut to comments from University of Toronto Professor Lorraine Weinrib who in the context of describing incitement to anti-Semitism noted “The Passion of the Christ” before mentioning, “terrorism in Europe” and the “the Arab Israeli conflict.” Of note, claims of increased anti-semitism in Canada were already being reported in Canadian media long before the release of the Gibson movie. Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente, in her March 20 article, “Passion bashin’ is in fashion”, wrote, “the real rift over The Passion is not between the Christians and the Jews. It’s between certain devout Christians and all the rest of us, especially those of little or no faith”.
“Virtually everyone who mongers opinions in the mainstream media, including me,” said Wente, “belongs to the latter category”. Commenting further on the pronounced trend of Liberal Christians slamming the movie Wente said, “the up-market churches have pushed God to the sidelines in favour of ecumenism and social justice. He (the real Christ) has all but vanished”. In related news, a Brazilian Presbyterian minister is reported to have died of a heart attack while watching the film. Rev. Jose Geraldo Soares, 43, is reportedly the second person to have suffered a heart attack while watching the film. While the coverage of the pastor’s death has gone all around the world no coverage has mentioned that heart-attacks are relatively common in movie theatres. In fact many movie theatres have defibrillators to assist patrons in such emergencies. Meanwhile The Passion of the Christ outsold all other films in Latin America this past weekend with exit polls finding that 100% of those who viewed the film would recommend it to others, and 82% saying they would see it again. The total gross ticket sales for the Passion in North America and overseas has now climbed to $329 million. See LifeSite’s Special report on The Passion of the Christ https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/feb/040225a.html See Margaret Wente article https://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040319.mx0320wente/BNStory/Entertainment/?query=Passion+bashin%27is+in+fashion