Boviosity!

I'm really not looking forward to the furor over Mel Gibson's "The Passion." I simply refuse to believe that a work of art, however well-intentioned, can or should be expected to move people to Christ. It feels manipulative and kind of empty to me...as if I'm supposed to expect someone who's been ignoring or despising God all his life to walk into a movie theatre and come out determined to learn more about this Christ fellow, whom Jim Caviezel has invested with such yearning and spiritual passion.

Give me a break. The same thing happened to me with "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Godspell" (recordings only, not the movies please) during the '70's. I went to church looking for some more of that great emotional catharsis I got from those LP's, and when that proved lacking, I stayed away.

Yes, there will be a large number of emotionally devastated Christians walking out of that theatre, determined to tell people about it and about Christ. I hope that I don't get too angry and upset at the inevitable backlash and the cultural warfare that erupts. People are already tired beyond outrage of being told how to think and how to act by Christians. I know, I used to be one of those people. Now, I'm leery of any culturally-delivered message, from the Super Bowl Half-Time Show (non-"Up With People" division) to, yes, Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of The Christ." Just as I am suspicious of any emotional movement I experience at church, especially the type that arrives on the wings of a low D-flat pedal on the organ, I refuse to be changed by a mere movie. What good is a faith that weeps over the beauty of the church choir's rendition of "How Lovely Are The Messengers" and then finds itself unmoved by the homeless man outside one's office building? I'll settle for both, but maybe I only have enough for one. So the homeless guy gets a smile and maybe a buck or two and the choir gets a "nice job" after the service.

How effectively can or should I refuse to go along with this movie, though? I know I'll be going to see it. Devotional art has moved more people through the centuries than any amount of sermons or sacrifice. Can a nation of people who cry over "Footprints" posters stand a chance against a 2-hour movie depiction of the death of Christ, especially one as dreamy as Jim Caviezel, that nice boy from the Count of Monte Cristo?

Roger Ebert will doubtless review it Just Like Any Other Movie and I will doubtless be pissed at that. Some Jews have already passed judgment on it as a dangerous wedge between faiths. I want it both ways. I want the philistine Ebert to approach the movie with reverence, and I want the people I go to church with to approach it with suspicion. Why is that? I don't know.