French block Passion of the Christ

The age ^ | March 1, 2004 | By Kim Willsher

[Aquinasfan]

They fear Christianity and a Mohammedan backlash.

[FreeReign]

The film was released in America and Australia last week but French distributors are wary of its impact on audiences and want to gauge its reception elsewhere in Europe, where it is due to open next month. A veteran film industry figure said: "We don't want to be on the side of those who support such anti-Semitism.

And in a similar country today, Christianity was banned. Said a veteren lawmaker: "we don't want to be on the side of those who support such anti-Semitism."

[Sloth]

More likely, they're blocking it because it depicts many Jews - and one in particular - in a positive light.

[William Martel]

There was no William, but I just figured we needed another Martel... actually, a whole slew of them if we can find them...

[shezza]

On the other hand, France has some of the highest rates of anti-semitism in the world today, most of which is due to the influx of Muslims from the south.

(i.e., pandering to their violent subculture)

[bond7]

Regarding France:

I just finished (today actually) "Franklin and Winston", the story of the incredible personal relationship between Roosevelt and Churchill that got us through WWII. It was interesting to read their thoughts of France in 1945. During the famous Yalta meeting, the shape of a post-war world was being discussed. Stalin (who we hoped would be a continuing ally at this stage) stated that France folded so fast, that they deserved no positive consideration what-so-ever.

Roosevelt disliked de Gualle and found him haughty and unlikeable.

Some things never change.....

A great read for history buffs, by the way.

[Gritty]

Honestly, I can't see any French Muslims going to this film - not unless they want to be on the receiving end of their very own Jihad. Therefore, it is unlikely the "anti-semitism" will flower more than usual. That is just the excuse.

I think the genuine reason is the French secularists are afraid of Jesus and what a Christian religious revival would do to their country, their power and their comfortable compromises. It's Jesus and His Message which threaten them, as usual.

They are not unlike those Pharisees prominently featured in The Passion....

[AMDG&BVMH]

"we needed another Martel... actually, a whole slew of them if we can find them..."

Excellent! (Maybe a Mel Martel?)

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Last year Paris police were forced to set up a unit to deal with anti-Semitic crimes.

Obviously France needs more people converted to Christianity so they will learn that being anti-Semitic is a sin, as Mel Gibson said. This movie can only help people to practice compassion, as Jesus taught.

[fire_eye]

I brought home a ream of inkjet printer paper from Office Depot last week. It said H-P on it so I thought it must be good stuff.

My wife noticed it was made in France.

I went back and exchanged it for some made in Brazil, so we're back on speaking terms now.

She says I still have to sleep on the couch for a while though.

[muawiyah]

So, the question is "Why did Europeans hate the Jews".

Actually, this hatred was nothing special. They hated the Gypsies even more, and when it came to the Mongols, they fought some serious wars to keep them out. Same with the North Africans, Franks, Teutons, Greeks, Romans, and probably most others who ever thought to show up in Europe, invited or not.

The French government once undertook to destroy the Protestants by murdering them all. In fact, the French government still pursues that policy, although a tad quieter these days.

Europeans definitely have an attitude problem.

[hosepipe]

Wrong approach completely... Should have been:

Passion of Christ WILL NOT BE DISTRIBUTED in France by order of Mel Gibson....

NOW.. that would have worked.. still could..

[TomasUSMC]

Before seeing the movie " The Passion of the Christ", the French should be told, it is helpfull to have read the book.

[tessalu]

The French have always been part chicken.

[SauronOfMordor]

The anti-Semites of France would not care too much about Jesus as they're of a different faith.

I don't think it's the French jews who are blocking it -- I think it's the Muslims, and they're using "anti-Semitism" as a diversion

[AMDG&BVMH]

"destroy the Protestants"

They (Hugenots) were invited into Prussia. Some also came to America.

The French Revolution, though, killed more than enough Catholics to make up for it.

[William Martel]

Lol... Mel Martel has a great ring to it, and he certainly has earned the title more than me!

Charles Martel did more than simply keep the Muslims out of Europe. He saved Western civilization as we did it. The odds were firmly stacked against him, he was outnumbered, but he fought and somehow (by the grace of God) ended up winning.

He should be a lesson to us all. We are in the midst of a cultural battle of our own, but we cannot, under any circumstances, give up the fight. Rather, come what may, we must fight on, and furthermore, we must win.

(And, furthermore, I believe Mel Martel may have struck a pretty good blow in this battle... that is why some are out there to destroy him. We can't let them succeed!)

[muawiyah]

Interestingly enough, the French Reveolution returned to the nation's vomit in the Vondee. Carrier proceeded to kill peasants like there was no tomorrow ~ even built this drowning machine.

If there were any Protestants (Huguenots) left in the Beauge, this got rid of them ~ and in numbers far exceeding all of the intentional hits on Catholics! Even today, this part of France has proportionally fewer Evangelicals than the other parts, and the disparity is usually attributed to both the rage of Louis XIV and the stupidity of the Revolutionaries.

When you are doing a genealogical search and you find the targeted surname shows up everywhere but France circa 1650 to 1800, look in the older French records ~ they probably lived there before they fled for their lives into all neighboring or accessible countries.

[muawiyah]

I'd like to clarify something here - there were French Catholics killed in the French Revolution. More Protestants would have been killed, of course, but Louis XVI's grandfather had already done them in.

The "Religious Wars" in France, Germany, and Scandinavia of the 16th and 17th Centuries (I include the Thirty Years War) involved millions and millions of deaths, mostly of the innocent.

Serious killing on that scale didn't begin again until the French Revolution had been disposed of in the Thermidor and Napoleon had taken command of the Army.

[William Martel]

I have often wondered this myself. One of the biggest complaints Europeans in older times had against the Jews was that they practiced usury. In more recent times, the Jews were blamed for controlling influential institutions in society while racially being non-Europeans (this was Hitler's main charge... he went even further and blamed them for Marxism, utter materialism, and, ironically, a desire to take over the world). Personally, I think it stims from the fact that, for the most part, Jews have been a minority in most places they have gone, different in one way or another from the rest of the population.