Send Page to a Friend Jewish Community Relations Council Statement on The Passion of the Christ Feb 25, 2004 (Boston)  Susan A. Calechman, President and Nancy K. Kaufman, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Boston issued the following statement after viewing The Passion of the Christ: "We have just had the opportunity to view this film together with our partners from the Christian community.  We, in Boston, pride ourselves on the relationships we are privileged to have with our inter-religious partners.  Our dialogue with them enriches us. For generations, the portrayal of the story of Jesus' Passion has inspired Christians to greater faith and connection to their tradition.  Sadly, it has also inspired some of the worst anti-Semitism ever experienced by the Jewish people.  Christians and Jews may thus, view this movie differently.  But, it is important to remember that it is just a film – one person's expression of his faith through art.  We affirm the decades of progress in Christian-Jewish relations, which began with Protestant statements issued after the Holocaust and accelerated following the Second Vatican Council in 1965.  No film can change that and no film will drive a wedge between our communities. To our deep disappointment, this film uses scenes that do not appear in the Gospels, ignores Jesus' own Jewishness, and consistently chooses to combine disparate Gospel elements in a climate of unspeakable violence so that the evil of the Jewish characters is magnified, wholly out of context.  Over the centuries, similar choices have resulted in outbreaks of violence against Jews and have stoked the flames of hatred and bigotry. We recommit ourselves today to: Strengthening our partnerships with the Christian community Deepening our understanding of our diverse traditions, based on mutual respect and, Encouraging respectful dialogue and mutual understanding between our respective faith communities.