The Passion & anti-Semitism
• Religious Intolerance
Pew Research Center asked people "Do you feel the Jews were responsible for Christ's death or not?" trying to gauge what effect Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ may have on American anti-Semitism.
In the March 17 to 21 telephone survey of 1,703 randomly selected adults, 26 percent said Jews were responsible for Christ's death, up from 19 percent in an ABC News poll that asked the same question in 1997.
The increase was especially pronounced among two groups. The portion of people younger than 30 who say Jews were responsible for killing Jesus has approximately tripled, from 10 percent in 1997 to 34 percent today. The portion of African Americans who hold that view has doubled, from 21 percent to 42 percent.
Alan Cooperman, Washington Post: Ideas About Christ's Death Surveyed