I'm new to the board, living and laboring in NYC. However, I am a bit dissapointed this is the way I will usher myself in but it is a topic I feel strongly about. Creative license notwithstanding, whether Jesus was portrayed as being white, black, purple or green he was persecuted for his beliefs, physically and mentally. It is because of his pain and suffering that we are here today and we were supposed to take from the movie the context of the message not the content of Mel Gibson's creative license. The message remains the same, he died for our sins. Is it supposed to be different if he was portrayed as a black man? He would still have been persecuted and beaten.