WEDNESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT
St. Macarius (334), Bishop
Forty Holy Martyrs of Sabaste (320) (Trad)

If movies are suppose to draw us into the story and cause us to "experience" the events and emotions on the screen, then Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ must be considered the best movie ever made. Even detractors are profoundly affected, although it hard to tell sometimes.

Among the most asinine and devilish of the critics are exampled below:

--Rev. Andrew Greeley (the so-called Catholic priest) calls it "sadomasochistic and pornographic."

--Christopher Hitchens dubs it "an exercise in lurid sadomasochism."

--Ex-priest John Dominic Crossan labels it "pornographic."

--David Edelstein of Slate finds it an "exercise in sadomasochism."

--Rabbi James Rudin brands it "a sadomasochistic film."

--David Denby of The New Yorker opines "It's extremely sadistic."

--Jonathan Foreman of the New York Post says it's "pornographic."

--A.O. Scott of the New York Times sees it as "high-minded sadomasochism."

--Andrew Sullivan was shocked to find it "pornographic."

--Rev. Michael Coffey, a Lutheran minister, says it's "pornographic."

--David Ansen of Newsweek screams "It's the sadism" that's troubling.

--Jamie Bernard of the Daily News notes it "would horrify the regulars at an S&M club."

--Ex-priest James Carroll sees the film as nothing but "pornographic."

--Leon Wieseltier of the New Republic dubs it "a repulsive masochistic fantasy, a sacred snuff film."

--Harvard professor Daniel Jonah Goldhagen was aghast at the "sadomasochistic, orgiastic display" and its "unremitting sadism."

--Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post calls it "the most unremitting sadism in the history of film."

--Bill Safire in the New York Times complains of its "sustained sadism."

--Al Neuharth of USA TODAY calls it a "wasted exercise in sadomasochism."

The common denominator among these pundits of IQ's under 25 (formerly called "idiots") is that the movie is sadomasochistic and pornographic.

I guess I do not live in the rarefied air of the ivy league idiots to realize the novel definitions of sadomasochism and pornography.

I thought I knew what these words meant. Afterall, in the 1970's I worked with a commissioner on the Presidential Commission on Pornography and obscenity informing the public about these issues, investigating offenders, writing model legislation, and getting the first convictions for violation of obscenity laws in the history of the county where I lived at the time.

I was one of the top experts on the subject in the United States and testified before the Texas Senate Subcommittee on Child Pornography as an expert witness.

Apparently I was not an expert at all and all my experience working on the issues of pornography, obscenity, and violence in the media on local, state, and national levels must have been a delusion.

Now the Passion of Christ who voluntarily underwent torture and death to pay the penalty of OUR sins and to open the door to heaven for us sinners is somehow sadomasochism and pornography.

Either I spent much of my life in delusion, or these critics speak with a breath of sulfur from the depths of hell.

Each of the Newspapers that published this horrific blasphemy should be boycotted, the anti-Christ priests denounced, and "Father" Greeley defrocked, if he isn't already.

God have mercy.

Your miserable servant,
Brother Bubba

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