Mel Gibson Film Sparks Pundit Bigotry

THE NEW YORK TIMES/FRONTPAGEMAG.COM, Aug. 4 — In the ongoing controversy over Mel Gibson's upcoming film about the death of Jesus, The Passion, New York Times pundit Frank Rich weighed in with a particularly serious charge: He claimed Gibson had systematically excluded Jews from preview audiences for the film.

Pointing out members of various Jewish-activist groups who had been denied preview tickets — after having denounced the film unseen based on a stolen copy of an outdated script — Rich hinted that bigotry lay behind Gibson's decision.

He compared the preview guest roster to “the membership lists of restricted country clubs.” Rich neglected to mention one attendee: a prominent writer and fierce defender of Israel, David Horowitz.

Days before, on his own Web site, FrontPageMag.com, Horowitz called the film “an awesome artifact, an overpowering work … as close to a religious experience as art can get.”

Horowitz continued: “It is not anti-Semitic, as the film-burners have charged. Two illustrative details: Jesus is referred to in the film as 'rabbi,' and there is never any distancing of Jesus or his disciples from their Jewishness. … The moral of this Christian story — of Mel Gibson's film — is that we all killed Jesus — Jew and Gentile alike — and tortured him, and we do so every day.”

Catholic League: Bishop Murphy Is Innocent

CATHOLIC LEAUGE, Aug. 7 — The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Liberties criticized an Aug. 1 statement by the Long Island chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a group that wants to change the structure of the Church. The Voice of the Fatifhul charged Rockville Centre Bishop William F. Murphy with delinquent behavior when he served in Boston.

“The Catholic League has rebutted every charge made by Voice of the Faithful against Bishop Murphy,” said Catholic League president Bill Donohue. “Indeed, it is our view that any reasonable person who reads VOTF's charges that appear on its website (votf.org), and then reads our response at catholicleague.org, will conclude that Bishop Murphy is innocent. If anything, the verdict of guilty applies to his accusers — they are guilty of character defamation.”

Does The Post Promote the Homosexual Agenda?

Accuracy In Media, July 30 — Journalistic watchdogs at Accuracy in Media have accused The Washington Post of actively promoting the homosexual-rights movement.

Accuracy in Media noted the paper ran a “gay-marriage announcement” for two of its former editors on the Post's Weddings page. The Post also offers insurance benefits to homosexual “domestic partners,” though not to cohabiting heterosexuals.

The Post acclaimed the recent Supreme Court decision repealing legal restrictions on sodomy as “remarkable and majestic” and on July 5 published an editorial supporting same-sex marriage.

On July 14, Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt compared opposition to such “marriages” to Jim Crow laws that banned interracial marriage.