; WSi
Mel Gibson's controversial movie about the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus, The Passion of the Christ, stunned the movie industry by becoming the eighth highest-grossing domestic film of all-time.
A new national survey of more than 1600 adults, conducted by the Barna Group, examines not only how many people saw the movie, but what impact the film had on their life.
People who had seen The Passion were asked if it affected their religious beliefs in any way. When pressed to describe the specific shifts in their spiritual perspectives, the most common changes were the perceived importance of how they treat other people, becoming more concerned about the affect of their life choices and personal behavior, and gaining a deeper understanding of, or appreciation for, what Christ had done for them through His death and resurrection.
The Passion was well received and stopped many people long enough to cause them to rethink some of their basic assumptions about life.
Barna also highlighted the power of movies in transforming people's lives. “Don't lose sight of the fact that about 13 million adults changed some aspect of their typical religious behavior because of the movie and about 11 million people altered some pre-existing religious beliefs because of the content of that film. That’s enormous influence,” the Californiabased researcher noted, “and you cannot fault The Passion for not satisfying religious agendas that some people assigned to it. More than any other movie in recent years, The Passion focused people on the person and purpose of Jesus Christ. In a society that revolves on relativism, spiritual diversity, tolerance and independence, galvanizing such intense consideration of Jesus Christ is a major achievement in itself.”*
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