Saint Mel

Someone wants to put a halo on the handsome devil in this photograph. Earlier this week Mel Gibson was chosen (anointed?) as the Most Powerful Christian in Hollywood. My first thought was that the pickings must be slim these days.

Of course Mr. Gibson took huge personal risks to produce and direct a film about the last days of Jesus' life called The Passion of the Christ. I have made no secret about my dislike of this movie because it takes the violence against Jesus to a place that is disturbing and actually directs us away from the bigger picture of Jesus' ministry of compassion and of resurrection hope. Yes Jesus suffered and died on the cross and yes this is vital to the Christian message. It's not the whole story and The Passion didn't tell this portion well.

Mel's personal life is also perplexing. At times he hits the bottle as hard as he smites his enemies in various films. He was stopped on a DUI a while ago and ended up making anti-semitic remarks toward one of the police officers.

I suppose we would all suffer image problems under the glaring lights of Hollywood but I know that Gibson is not my Christian role model. Even the term "most powerful" seems to be an oxymoron when applied to Christianity.