Catholic League president William Donohue commented today on the absence of violence that marks the one month anniversary of the opening of “The Passion of the Christ”:
“Last summer, Boston University professor Paula Fredriksen predicted, with no uncertainty, that ‘when violence breaks out’ (following the opening of ‘The Passion of the Christ’) Mel Gibson will have some explaining to do. She was not alone in predicting violence, though no one was as cocksure as she was.
“Now that the movie has been out for a month, there have been no reports of violence, no pogroms of any sort. There have been a few spectacular stories about people who have died on the way to the theater, or in the theater itself, but no one believes for a moment that they would have lived had they chosen to dine at the Red Lobster instead. It seems only fair, then, that those demagogues who waved a bloody flag at the movie should now repent for acting so irresponsibly. They can begin by apologizing to Mel Gibson.
“And by the way, had some Germans been mugged after the opening of ‘Schindler’s List,’ would anyone in his right mind have blamed Steven Spielberg?”
