This is the first listing on this site of a series of e-mail bulletins, commonly referred to as "Ed-Mail," authored by Rev Ed Hird, of St. Simon's church in North Vancouver. Ed-Mail has been promulgated for quite a while prior to this date. I don't have the manpower to "pretty up" the reports for the web, or make the many links clickable, but the continuing saga of the fall from orthodoxy in the Anglican church, including the same-sex blessings debate, is documented here.
- Tony Copple, SSB site Webmaster.
1a) http://london2003.anglican.tk/
- FACE OF CANADIAN Anglicanism to change as it holds same-sex shotgun to own forehead,
prepares to pull trigger-- ignoring the cries of the faithful church living and departed… http://www.anglicanjournal.com/130/04/oped01.html
Resolution will surely change face of church
April 2004 Anglican Journal
LEANNE LARMONDIN When it finally came, it seemed anti-climactic.
There, in typically bureaucratic, church-style vernacular, was the resolution that
could change the face of the Anglican Church of Canada. To be sure, the language of the
resolution masks the storm that preceded it photo by Saskia Rowley and gives little sense
of the dramatic changes the church will face if it passes at General Synod in just a few months:
"Be it resolved that this General Synod … affirms the authority and jurisdiction of
any diocesan synod, with the concurrence of its bishop, to authorize the blessing of
committed same-sex unions."
The resolution would give dioceses the so-called "local option" to decide for themselves
if they wish to offer blessing rites to couples of the same gender.
The words are harbingers of a very uncertain future, yet they sound and feel so innocuous…
It is doubtless that the church faces upheaval, regardless of the decision reached by
General Synod. A vote in favour of the local option will quite possibly see individuals,
parishes, and perhaps dioceses realign themselves with like-minded Anglican networks; some
will leave the denomination entirely. A vote against the motion does not guarantee that
the matter is dead; it may simply mean that the church would face yet another three years
of dialogue and parishes and dioceses would find themselves paralyzed by indecision about
how to carry on with the work of the church… It will, however, be increasingly difficult
for parishes in the coming months and years to ignore the matter of same-sex blessings.
If the local option resolution passes, a second motion calls for the faith, worship and
ministry commission to prepare resources for the church to use in addressing issues relating
human sexuality, including the blessing of same-sex unions and the changing definition of
marriage in society.
The ground beneath us is shifting.
Now is not the time to duck and cover.
1b) http://www.anglicanjournal.com/130/04/canada30.html
Archbishop protests interference of foreign primates
Offer of episcopal oversight called 'unfortunate'
MARITES N. SISON, STAFF WRITER, March 2004 Anglican Journal Archbishop David Crawley,
the acting primate, has written formal letters of protest to the primates of Central Africa,
Congo, Rwanda and Southeast Asia saying their offer of "temporary adequate episcopal oversight"
to New Westminster parishes opposed to same-sex blessings constitutes interference in the affairs
of the Anglican Church of Canada.
Four out of 11 churches that do not recognize the authority of Bishop Michael Ingham of
New Westminster and formed the Anglican Communion in New Westminster (ACiNW) have accepted the offer.
"I regret that these four primates have chosen to interfere in the life of the Canadian
church, especially since a task force has been set up by the house of bishops to develop and
provide guidelines for episcopal oversight and it has not completed its work," said Archbishop
Crawley, who is metropolitan of the church province of British Columbia and Yukon, in an
interview. "It was made clear over 100 years ago and restated in the 1998 Lambeth Conference,
in a motion made by two Canadian bishops, that primates should not interfere in each other's affairs."
Bishop Victoria Matthews, chair of the task force created by the house of bishops to
look into the issue of adequate episcopal oversight for dissenters, said the offer was
"unfortunate." (See related story on the task force's findings)
One of the primates who made the offer, Archbishop Bernard Malango of Central Africa,
is a member of the Lambeth Commission created to find ways of preserving the Anglican Communion.
The Church of England Newspaper said there was an unconfirmed report that members of the
commission had "chastised" Archbishop Malango for his action.
St. Andrews, Pender Harbour, Church of Emmanuel (Richmond), St. Simon's ( North Vancouver)
and Immanuel Church West side announced in a press statement that they were accepting the offer.
Seven other ACiNW member congregations are "mulling their options," said the coalition.
(A fifth primate, from Kenya, later joined the alliance of primates offering oversight,
according to a news release from one of the
parishes.)
Bishop Ingham said the acceptance by the four parishes of pastoral care from overseas
"means that (they) have given up on the Anglican Church of Canada." He said in an interview
that the move "pre-empted the work of the (bishops') task force." Last year, Bishop Ingham asserted
his authority as diocesan bishop and prevented Bishop Terrence Buckle of the Yukon from coming in
as a "flying bishop." Bishop Buckle had made an offer to oversee the dissenting parishes, which he
later withdrew after the task force was formed.
In a statement, ACiNW spokesperson Lesley Bentley expressed the hope that the national
church would make the same offer of episcopal oversight. "This may be a sign that time is running
out," she said.
Rev. Paul Carter executive director of ACiNW and priest at Immanuel Church Westside (a church
plant not affiliated with the diocese of New Westminster), said the offer of episcopal oversight
"will now enable us to have relief and move forward in mission while the Anglican Communion works
out how to deal with false teaching in its midst, and the impending re-alignment."
2a) http://www.virtuosityonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=594
ORTHODOX DEAN SAYS HOB DEPO STATEMENT "UNSATISFACTORY"
By David W. Virtue, 3/29/2004
BIRMINGHAM, AL- (The Very Rev. Dr. Paul Zahl), The Dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in
Birmingham says that the recent HOB statement regarding Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight is
unsatisfactory, because it withholds "jurisdiction", and makes a consistent distinction between
"jurisdiction" and "pastoral oversight"…
2b) http://www.albanyepiscopaldiocese.org/equipping/newsitems/pdupdate-07.html
(Bishop Dan Herzog, Albany New York) …I saw the negative assessment of the Bishops' statement by
the AAC. Bishop Dave and I disagree with that view. We believe that with charity and grace we can
work together. The only way to find out is to try…
http://www.albanyepiscopaldiocese.org/equipping/newsitems/feature-14.htm
(Bishop Dave Bena)…In the end, it is half a loaf for those wanting Adequate Episcopal Oversight
and half a loaf for those wanting Supplemental Pastoral Care. Let's give it a try…
2c) http://london2003.anglican.tk/ http://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/natter/msg00159.html
(Louie Crew)…My read on that is that someone near the Archbishop of Canterbury, if not the ABC
himself, got to (Bishop Bob) Duncan quickly and warned that the Network had better not trash this
plan lest they be left out in the cold. Of course, that is just a guess, based on Duncan's
uncharacteristic restraint this time.
Those in the Network know that they are having an increasing credibility problem. They said that
if NH elected +Gene, many would leave. No one did. Then they said that if GC consented, many would
leave. No one did. Then they said that unless the PB bowed to the Primates' demands, many
would leave. He didn't, and they didn't leave. Then they said that if NH consecrated +Gene......
3a) http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=e59e7316-548b-4d44-b2a1-1ac71dcafeae
An evangelical crusade on the screen
Movie allows people to talk about a religious experience
David Howell and Liane Faulder, Edmonton Journal
Sunday, March 28, 2004
EDMONTON - Far from just another Hollywood blockbuster, The Passion of the Christ has quickly
become a cultural phenomenon, sparking debate in churches, university lecture theatres and coffee shops…
"You can't ignore it," said Gerald Krispin, chair of the religious studies division at Concordia
University College in Edmonton.
"It's almost become an obligation for Christians, specifically, to go and see it. People will
ask you, 'Have you seen it yet?' If you haven't, it's 'Why not? Why haven't you gone to see it?' "
Krispin has lectured on the film in every class he teaches. "Students demand it," he said.
"They want to know, 'Was it really like this?' And I have Muslim students who see it and want
to know what this is all about, because in the Koran the crucifixion of Christ is never mentioned."…
Bob Berney, the head of Newmarket Films, which agreed to distribute The Passion after Gibson had been
spurned by the leading Hollywood studios, said the age and demographic range of the audience has
startled the entertainment industry. In the U.S., it's getting teens, college-age young adults,
and is doing unexpectedly well with Latino and African-American audiences, Berney said….
Viewers in Edmonton have had passionate reactions to the film.
"It's the best movie I've seen in my life. I'm emotional still," Holly Muskego said, her voice
trembling, as she left a matinee last weekend at Edmonton City Centre. "There's a lot of feeling
in it. I can't express it in words. You just have to see it."
At the same theatre, Melinda Falkenberg-Poetz said the movie made a powerful impression. She
predicted its momentum will only grow as Easter approaches.
"You think about the Friday when He was crucified," Falkenberg-Poetz said. "As a Christian,
you read it in the Bible, but you don't really think about the suffering. This brings it alive.
He did suffer. It was a hard movie to watch."…
The movie has been most fervently embraced by evangelical churches and their congregations.
At the Sherwood Park Alliance Church, more than 1,000 people saw The Passion of the Christ
at a special advance screening in January. Other parishioners are now going to theatres
"in droves," executive pastor Jim Thiessen said.
"Some people are organizing discussion groups at coffee shops and restaurants, setting up
three-, four- or five-week conversation series about the story in the movie, that kind of thing."
An ad on the church's website, specifically designed to entice moviegoers to come to church,
explains that Gibson's movie showed "what happened ... now find out why it happened."
Pastors at Sherwood Park Alliance are building no less than five Easter services around the
film, "all working on why the story in the movie is so gripping," Thiessen said.
Thiessen sees the movie as a modern-day version of the evangelical crusades of decades past.
"In some ways it substitutes the large group gatherings that crusades were for smaller group
gatherings around a movie. And while the movie is only a movie, it points to a story, a concept,
an action that allows people to talk -- legitimately -- about a religious experience."…
Like Krispin, he sees peer pressure as another factor at work in drawing people into theatres.
"I know some of my colleagues have seen it only because it's part of a pervasive religious
conversation," he said. "They're out of it if they haven't seen it." dhowell@thejournal.canwest.com lfaulder@thejournal.canwest.com © Edmonton Journal 2004
2b) http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/March/28/local/stories/07local.htm
March 28, 2004, Santa Cruz Sentinel Newspaper
Dan Harper: Americans come clean with 'The Passion'
It seems like everyone I know wants to talk about his or her personal relationship with God.
I was under the mistaken notion that faith was something private, not to be shown off.
I thought we were supposed to live our faith, not talk about it.
But we live in confessional times so we're eager to confess our sins and declare our piety to
anyone who will listen. If you doubt it, just watch Jerry Springer or Oprah Winfrey.
Maybe our open declaration of faith is caused by Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ."…
2c) http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/March/28/style/stories/01style.htm
March 28, 2004
Star Power: Boulder Creek woman helped put Jesus in 'The Passion' By PEGGY TOWNSEND, Sentinel
staff writer
2d) DOWNEY: Rabbi gives his view about "Passion of the Christ" http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=386&dept_id=444925&newsid=11194987&PAG=461&rfi=9
The Time Herald Newspaper, Olean, New York 03/28/2004
"The Passion of the Christ" movie has brought forth many views. Messianic Rabbi Frank Lowinger
of Kenmore, pastor at B'rith Hadoshah congregation on Elmwood Avenue, told this column
"at first I didn't know whether I wanted to see it, but so many people were asking for my
opinion, I went." Did he consider the movie anti-Semitic? "Not really. If you go in (to
the movie) as an anti-Semite, you'll leave that way and vice versa. Being a Jew, the movie
reinforces for me that Y'shua (Jesus), indeed, was the King of the Jews, that he was the
long-awaited Messiah for both Jews and Christians," said the rabbi. "To the movie's creator
Mel Gibson I say 'good for you for making the movie. You followed the convictions of your heart.'
" The violence? "The movie is not for everyone. The violence is as advertised - very strong.
It can make you squeamish." Rabbi Lowinger has been B'rith Hadoshah's pastor since 1990.
2e) http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-03/29/content_1389299.htm
Movie moves man to confess murder
www.chinaview.cn 2004-03-29 10:33:44
BEIJING, Mar.29 (Xinhuanet) -- A repentant man in Houston, Texas, in the United States, went
to police after seeing Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion of Christ and confessed to
murdering a 19-year-old woman who was pregnant with his child, authorities said Thursday…
2f) http://www.charismanews.com/a.php?ArticleID=8778
March 30, 2004 edition CNS World News
Man Confesses to Murder After Watching 'The Passion' …Elsewhere, well-known pastor and author
Rick Warren said his Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., gained 2,500 new members in
the few days after the Feb. 25 release of the movie, Discipling A Whole Nation (DAWN), a global
Christian research and strategy network, reported.
Robby Dobbs of the Second Baptist Church in Houston said his congregation has had "hundreds of
conversions" because of the film. Along with many pastors nationwide, Warren held church services
in rented cinemas.
Churches overseas are reportedly copying this style of evangelism. In Essen, Germany, the
owners of the country's largest cinema allowed churches to speak for 20 minutes after each
showing, DAWN reported…
2g) http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/entertainment/films/articles/9946078?source=Metro
Mel Gibson's huge career gamble has paid off
Film fans flock to Passion
By Metro, (UK) 29 March 2004
The Passion Of The Christ, Mel Gibson's blood-soaked Easter offering, is proving a sell-out at
the box office. Despite the controversy surrounding the film, many cinemas have reported bumper
ticket sales…
2h) http://inhome.rediff.com/movies/2004/mar/29usbo.htm
Arthur J Pais | March 29, 2004 14:11 IST
…Still enjoying strong support, Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ, which was the third
highest grossing film over the weekend, has accumulated about $315 million. The movie phenomenon,
which is in about 3,200 movie houses, will add at least 500 movie houses coming Friday as
distributor Newmarket Films hopes to give the film a higher profile during the Easter week.
Many box-office observers think the film has a
good chance to capture the top position that week.
It was followed by the slasher hit, Dawn Of The Dead which, despite the ghostly 61 per cent
fall from the previous week, has collected an impressive $43.8 million in just about 10 days.
It is not uncommon for sci-fi and horror films to lose about 50 per cent of their audiences in the second week…
2i) http://www.news24.com/News24/Entertainment/Abroad/0,,2-1225-1243_1505101,00.html
News24 - South Africa http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=9432
First Published 2004-03-29, Last Updated 2004-03-29 12:11:25 Who to please? Gibson film stirs
religious controversy in Kuwait Kuwait's Sunni Muslims oppose 'Passion of the Christ',
emirate's Shiite Muslims call on authorities to show it. KUWAIT CITY - Mel Gibson's film
"The Passion of the Christ" has stirred a religious controversy in Kuwait between majority
Sunni Muslims who oppose the movie and the emirate's Shiite Muslims who call for showing it.
The authorities, meanwhile, have not decided either way.
The dean of the local Islamic college, Mohammad al-Tabtabai, said in a fatwa, or religious
edict, Monday that parts of the controversial movie contradict the Muslim faith, in addition
to its depiction of Jesus.
Tabtabai went so far as to outlaw the film's screening by any Muslim country and prohibited
Muslims from watching it, saying anyone who has seen the movie must "repent".
But the emirate's leading Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Muhri said there was nothing
wrong in showing the film and called on the authorities to approve it…
2j) "The Passion of the Christ" stirs religious controversy in Kuwait http://www.albawaba.com/headlines/TheNews.php3?sid=273774&lang=e&dir=entertainment
Entertainment March30 ,2004 Albawba News, Amman, Jordan,
The Middle East Gateway
A religious scholar in Kuwait issued a fatwa demanding the banning of the film "The Passion of
the Christ", by Mel Gibson from being screened in the Islamic world, in addition to prohibiting
Muslims from watching it, saying anyone who has seen the movie must "repent".
Mohammed al-Tabatabai, who heads the oil-rich Arab kingdom's Sharia (Islamic jurisprudence)
College, said Mel Gibson's film hurts religious feelings of the Muslims. "It is based on fictitious
material and shows a man acting as Jesus. Both negate Islamic beliefs," said Tabatabai.
The Muslims regard Jesus as one of the three great prophets of god, along with Mohammed and
Moses, and consider it a sin to mimic them. They also consider it a sin to concoct information
about a prophet for making a film or a play…
2k) Christ movie sparks neo-Nazi confession http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=484872§ion=news
Mon 29 March, 2004 13:37
OSLO (Reuters) - A Norwegian neo-Nazi has confessed to two bombings a decade ago after a pang
of repentance triggered by watching U.S. director Mel Gibson's controversial film "The Passion of the Christ"…
2l) http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article762867.ece
Monday March 29 2004
Aftenposten Nettutgaven
Confessed after seeing 'Passion'
Johnny Olsen, a notorious convicted killer and neo-Nazi, has confessed to two bombings in
Oslo in the 90s. Olsen, 41, decided to purge his guilty conscience after viewing Mel Gibson's
controversial film The Passion of the Christ, newspaper Dagbladet reports.
On Saturday evening Olsen, one of Norway's most feared men, walked into the offices of Dagbladet
and confessed to two bombings of Oslo's Blitz House, a self-styled 'counterculture center'
that is a gathering spot for young left-wing radicals.
Olsen turned himself in to police late Saturday and claimed he would provide them with details
that would prove he was responsible for the bombings. Olsen said that he had decided to confess
after watching "The Passion of the Christ".
"He said that it was the film that made him realize that he had to show his hand. He has been
preoccupied with Christianity, guilt, punishment, atonement, suffering and conversion during
the 10 years I have known him," said Olsen's lawyer Fridtjof Feydt.
"It has been a long process but the Jesus film made the difference. Now he shows true regret and
is ready to make amends," Feydt said.
"It is important that two of Norway's worst attempted assassinations are cleared up. It is my way
of creating more peace in the world," Olsen told Dagbladet.
Olsen had been trying to lead a quiet life in recent years and in a 2000 interview with Dagbladet
said he hoped to break with right-wing nationalist groups and settle down to a normal life.
Despite this wish and his professed faith in God, he continued to have active links to violent
extremist circles, though in recent years he was absent from headlines.
Olsen was sentenced to 18 years in prison after the double murder of two youths on a remote forest
road in Hadeland in 1981. He was released on probation after serving 12 years.
Olsen was involved in a series of violent clashes with Blitz and anti-racist groups and was
convicted of shooting at anti-racism activists and threatening members of Blitz.
Police suspected Olsen of the Blitz bombings in the mid-90s but never managed to connect him to
the crimes.
The Passion of the Christ has had similar effects on American viewers. A Texas man recently
confessed to murder and a Florida thief turned himself in after watching Gibson's film of the
final hours of Christ's life.
Aftenposten's Norwegian reporter: Karin Bøhm-Pedersen Aftenposten English Web Desk Jonathan Tisdall
2m) http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37818
'THE PASSION' UNLEASHED
Film inspires wave of crime confessions
From burglars to murderers, cases as old as 10 years reopened
Posted: March 31, 2004, 1:00 a.m. Eastern
2n) http://www.nbc4columbus.com/entertainment/2960558/detail.html
'Passion' Prompts Confessions To Bombings, Murder, Burglary
UPDATED: 12:50 p.m. EST March 30, 2004
"The Passion of The Christ" isn't just eliciting passions -- but confessions as well. A Norwegian
neo-Nazi admitted he was behind the bombings of a youth group headquarters in the 1990s…
And in Arizona, a burglary suspect saw the light -- after seeing the movie.
Officers in Mesa, Ariz., say 20-year-old Turner Lee Bingham walked up and confessed to about a
half-dozen burglaries. The officers were checking a burglar alarm at a cell phone store at the time.
They said Bingham told them that he had taken $80 from the cash register there. Bingham said he
decided to fess up to his crimes after seeing the movie about the last hours of Christ's life.
Bingham told police he threw the money from a highway overpass. But officers couldn't find any
of the loot. Bingham's been booked into a Phoenix jail on suspicion of felony burglary…
2o) Paris court rejects appeal to ban 'The Passion'http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1080533948188&p=1006688055060
Jerusalem Post Newspaper, Israel
Mar. 29, 2004 15:00 | Updated Mar. 29, 2004 15:01
By ASSOCIATED PRESS, PARIS
2p) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3579519.stm
Last Updated: Monday, 29 March, 2004, 15:00 GMT 16:00 UK
Judge rejects French Passion ban BBC UK
2q) http://michnews.com/artman/publish/article_3167.shtml
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES SAYS OK TO MEL GIBSON ' S ' PASSION ' Michnews.com - USA ... Information
has shouted its Amen to Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ", according to the UAE's Gulf
News. Therefore, beginning March 31, the movie ...
2r) http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=362322004
The Scotsman, Tue 30 Mar 2004
Has Mel Gibson displayed too much of his own passion?
Brian Morton on culture
This is not a film review. Studio A in Dunoon, unlovely successor to Green's La Scala Moving
Picture Palace of late and fond memory, has not yet screened The Passion of the Christ, and
movie reviewing isn't my beat, anyway. But nor is it one of those "I haven't seen Mr Gibson's
latest work, but I'm disgusted by it anyway" rants that will be surfacing all around you this week…
2s) http://news.scotsman.com/movies.cfm?id=363092004
The Scotsman, Tue 30 Mar 2004
Gibson's Passion takes £2m
ANGUS HOWARTH
MEL Gibson's controversial film The Passion of the Christ has topped the UK box office with
takings of more than £2 million on its opening weekend…
2t) http://michnews.com/artman/publish/article_3179.shtml
AN African-American Christian's View Of 'Passion'
Michnews.com - USA
... Inasmuch as Mel Gibson's ... from showing that redemption was "bought with a price"
--THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST is destined to become a movie
2u) The power of the 'Passion' http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/international/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000474770
The controversy surrounding Mel Gibson's religious epic could reach a fever pitch as the
film rolls out in Europe By Charles Masters, Hollywood Reporter, March 29th 2004 Monday PARIS
-- If religious and political leadership has any influence on cinemagoing, then Mel Gibson's
"The Passion of the Christ" (Newmarket) could be set for a stellar career overseas…
Early boxoffice is promising, if not overwhelming. In the United Kingdom, where the film
opened Friday, "Passion" grossed $3.7 million from 323 screens, narrowly beating out
"Dawn of the Dead," which took in $3.5 million from 339 screens…
Ben Ammar, whose newly formed Quinta Distribution will release the movie Wednesday, hit back
forcefully. "This is not a fascist movie. On the contrary -- 50 million people have seen the
film so far; I don't think they're all fascists," says Ben Ammar, a Tunisia-born Muslim.
Quinta has screened the movie in France to Holocaust survivors and prominent Jewish leaders.
"Not one said it was anti-Semitic," Ben Ammar adds…
In Italy, where "Passion" has received a general admission rating, distributor Eagle
Pictures plans to release the film April 7 on about 500 prints, making it the last of Europe's
major territories to see the picture. Controversy surrounding the movie hit as early as the
fall, when Roman Catholic Church members voiced concern that some of the more brutal scenes
may be too violent for the general public…
In Spain, Aurum plans to release "Passion" on Friday, just ahead of Easter week. Spanish
media have already reported the debate surrounding the film in detail. Much of the commentary
has revolved around Gibson's supposed zeal, the perceived absurdity of a film in Latin
and Aramaic and the alleged anti-Semitism. But the coverage has focused on the film's violence
and sensationalism.
Aurum's commercial director Jose Maria Sanchez says "Passion's" huge success stateside have
affected its release plan. "Normally, a subtitled film would open with eight or 10 prints,"
Sanchez says. "Due to (its) success in other territories and audience demand, it will open as
a tremendous exception with around 270 prints because we are very confident in the film."…
The film was endorsed by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, leader of the Catholic Church in
England and Wales. "I have not seen it, but everyone I have met who has seen it has been profoundly moved," he told BBC1's "Breakfast With Frost." "I don't think from what I hear that it is in any way anti-Semitic."…
2v) http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=1747970
March 30th 2004 Tuesday ABC 7 News, El Paso Texas
"The Passion of the Christ" is a blockbuster among Arab Muslims and Christians Cairo,
Egypt-AP -- Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is a big hit among Arab Muslims and
Christians in the Middle East. The film has drawn large and enthusiastic crowds in Jordan,
Syria and Lebanon. And Arabs in other Mideast countries are eagerly awaiting its release…
2w) Bishop defends Gibson film http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=14100413&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=bishop-defends-gibson-film-name_page.html
Local news (UK) Mar 29 2004
…The Rt Revd Dr John Sentamu said…"The Passion of The Christ produced the same reaction
in me as when I watched Schindler's List, The Diary of Anne Frank and Cry Freedom.
"No one ethnic group stands condemned…
2x) www.boxofficemojo.com
March 26-28, 2004
Around the World Round Up
by Kenan Bresnan, Early Edition-
The Passion of the Christ continued its record-breaking run in Latin America…
2y) http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=6412&pt=e
FRIDAY 26/03/2004 13:48:41
Faithful flock to The Passion (UK)
2z) http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040331/dew001_1.html
Press Release Source: Zondervan
Poll Finds 'The Passion of the Christ' Boosts People's Bible-Reading Habits; More Than 12,000
People Take Zondervan/ Beliefnet.com Poll Wednesday March 31, 7:35 am ET GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.,
March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- People are reading the Bible more as a result of Mel Gibson's
controversial movie "The Passion of the Christ" according to a Beliefnet.com poll, which was
sponsored by Zondervan, the world's largest Bible publisher.
Sixty-two percent of all respondents answered "yes" to the question, "Are you reading the
Bible more as a result of the movie 'The Passion of the Christ?'" The poll also found that
41 percent of respondents had a more positive view of the Bible as a result of the movie,
while 53 percent said their view of the Bible hadn't changed and 5 percent said they weren't
sure. One percent of the respondents said they had a more negative view of the Bible as a result of the movie.
When asked how close the movie was to the Bible's account of Jesus' death, 75 percent answered
"very close," while 15 percent responded "somewhat close" and five percent answered "not
close at all." Another 5 percent said they weren't sure.
More than 12,000 people took the Zondervan-sponsored poll between March 5 and March 25 on
Beliefnet.com, an independent, multi-faith Web site. Zondervan is the largest Bible publisher
in the world, distributing and selling 7 million Bibles per year…
3) http://www.pastors.com/RWMT/default.asp?id=148&artid=4278&expand=1
Whose Vision are you following? By Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, San Diego