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03/19/2004: "Waiting for an apology..."
...though I doubt that any will be forthcoming from Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, Frank Rich of the New York Times , Christopher Hitchens, or any of the other people who predicted that The Passion of the Christ would bring about another Kristallnacht. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:
Despite fears that it could promote anti-Semitism, the new film by Mel Gibson The Passion of the Christ may have made Americans less likely to blame Jews for the death of Jesus, according to a new survey.
Among those interviewed for a new national poll who had seen or knew about the film, 83 percent said the movie and its surrounding controversy had no effect on the extent they believe contemporary Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus. Only 2 percent said the movie made them more likely to blame Jews, while 9 percent said the movie made them less likely to hold Jews responsible.
The poll by the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco surveyed 1,003 randomly selected adults from March 5 to 9. The margin of error was 3.7 percentage points.
Jewish and liberal Christian leaders who were all up in arms about the "anti-Semitic message" supposedly embedded in The Passion ought to be thanking Gibson for this effect. I don't imagine that's any more likely than an apology, though.
