http://www.themcpassion.com/discussion.html
What the director Rik says, and I
think it is very true. Some of the megachurches in Singapore had
turn Christianity into MacChrist or
MacPassion:
For the record, I'm a fan of both Christ himself and of Mel
Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. Our short film is in no way
intended as a parody of either Jesus or the brutal blockbuster that
detailed his final hours. It's important to say this because, even
though The McPassion is only four minutes long, it's already caused
more division in my creative life than any other project I've ever
worked on.
I openly confess: I'm a believer, man. Nowadays, of course, the
label "Christian" is used by a lot of divisive factions that I may
not agree with so I always get a little nervous when tossing my
faith out there without the chance to clarify; so, in short, I
fully embrace the redemption uniquely offered by the atoning
sacrifice made by the Lamb of God and his message of love for the
whole world. Further, I don't think there is anything at all funny
about his teachings, the beating he took, or the sins of humanity
(past, present, and future) that gave, and continue to give, that
beating purpose. As for Gibson's remarkable film, I was shaken to
my core and left the theatre after watching it with a far deeper
appreciation of the text, "by his stripes we're healed." I'm proud
of the risk Gibson took in making that film and have incredible
respect for him as an artist and storyteller.
All that said, I do believe that the increasing amount of
church-directed marketing for entertainment products is fair game
for parody and satire. Companies
now exist for the sole purpose of telling Hollywood how to market
their films to the "church crowd" and church members are routinely
told by church leaders that it is their "Christian responsibility"
to buy a particular inspirational or entertainment or both product
(and that's what we're talking about here, products; many of which
are generating big, big dollars). And it doesn't
matter if we're talking traditional, mainline churches or hip,
emergent, post-modern ones with ancient-future liturgy; it's the
same deal, only the pitch and packaging are different.
Look, I'm no theologian, but
whatever the Gospel is, I know this much it's free. No one ever
has to buy another anything to get closer to God. Everywhere we
turn these days, someone is selling us something. And as I
understand it, the primary purpose of coming together as believers
is to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed. Isn't Jesus, in a
sense, the product to end all products? Why can't at least some of
our gathering times be a sanctuary from commerce? Why can't the
church be the one place lost and hurting people can go to heal and
seek shelter from financial exploitation? From
being told their lives will remain incomplete without buying this
book, this pill, this...one...more...thing? Sure, filmmakers will
always have to advertise and shamelessly self-promote their works
(like I'm painfully doing on this web site); it comes with the
territory. But can't we keep the P.T. Barnum in all of us where he
belongs, on billboards and in TV commercials and out of sacraments
and doxologies
