(ABP) — While many Christians have geared up for Mel Gibson's “The Passion of the Christ” to be the greatest evangelistic opportunity since Pentecost, non-Christian reaction to the film has been mixed.
Message boards across the Internet are filled with posts from non-Christians annoyed by what many of them see as Christians pushing their viewpoints.
“I am not against religious films at all or religions in general,” writes “Skynetdyne” on a pop.com forum. “But this is a fun film site where freaks and movie buffs come to talk about movies. Then they make these religious movies and all the [Christian] freaks start to come in. They get all mad and try to press their points of view on us movie freaks, when all we want to talk about is having fun at the cineplex.”
Dave Silverman, spokesman for the nation's oldest non-profit group for non-religious people, American Atheists, called the movie “really preachy.” He predicted “The Passion” would not bring anyone into the Christian faith because non-Christians largely are not interested in seeing it.
Silverman decried the film's violence and gore, calling it “Quentin Tarantino meets the pope.” He said he was disappointed the film did not present the non-judgmental elements of Christianity or answer questions people have about the crucifixion.
“This was nothing new,” he said. “This was just the Catholic view of the persecution of Christ.”
Other non-Christians are separating the religious issues from the film. On pop.com, “Cosmo_Kramer,” who noted he does not believe in Jesus, said the “film is going to be great … good quality … great story.”
“Jim” on jimlynch.com, who wrote that his spiritual beliefs have swayed greatly, was hopeful the movie will show the heart of Christianity. And he wondered if the movie would bring others to the faith.
“Still, the film will be worth watching and it will be worth pondering what Christianity is really supposed to be about,” he said. “I can't but wonder if it will result in an influx of people back to the church, or if the film will simply vanish after a few months in the theaters. We've become such a secular country that it seems hard to believe that suddenly people will move in the other direction. I hope some good things come from it, though.”
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