Christians debate violence in films: Has 'The Passion' created a double standard?

For the past month, the world has been held in rapt attention by Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Since its release on Feb. 25, The Passion has made over $300 million. The major contributors to the film’s immediate success have been the Christian churches. For months prior to the film’s release, churches were given private screenings of the film to help facilitate a larger audience and to spread the word about The Passion. Since its release, churches all across America have purchased tickets in mass quantities to sell to their members.

However, churches and Christians are now being accused of creating a double standard because they are advocating a movie that shows violence that many previously spoke out against.

“When I was in high school, I wasn’t allowed to watch R-rated movies,” said junior Sara Fowler.

Like Fowler, many Milligan students who grew up in Christian homes say they were not allowed to see R-rated movies. However, many of these same households are now accepting the violence because of the nature of the story and are viewing the film, often more than once. Even ministers and youth ministers are promoting what is being called by critics one of the most violent films to their churches, including to teenagers who are under the legal age for seeing an R-rated movie in the theater.

“I can see how that (double standard) case can be made. However, if you made a movie out of the whole Bible, there would be a lot of R-rated material or worse,” said campus minister Nathan Flora. “We’ve been trained to read the Bible with rose-colored glasses where we don't see the kind of offensive materials that it contains.”

Flora agrees that The Passion warrants the R-rating because the violence is the crucial part of the story.
Assistant Professor of Communications Kenny Suit feels that the double standard has to do with the church’s apathy towards on-screen violence.

“We don't seem to mind going to see an action film with a lot of gun play. The minute it becomes sexual, we get uncomfortable with it,” Suit said. “Had Jesus been on the cross naked, which is probably what it was…I think some churches and some Christians would have been a bit more uncomfortable with the film.” Nevertheless, many churches are now beginning to reevaluate their positions on R-rated movies. The Passion has opened the doors for some Christians to examine a film before placing judgment based solely on its rating.

“The question is going to come up later when somebody tries to do, for instance, an Old Testament film that is true to the biblical narrative, true to the biblical text. It would be very graphic, both sexually and in terms of the violence,” Suit said. “I think that is when you’re going to get Christians who will begin to debate whether their children should see the film.”

When that time comes, Christians will be forced to reevaluate their position once again.