Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in an interview that he has all but given up hope [Mel Gibson]'s final cut of the film will omit problematic material from the synoptic Gospels. Most mainstream Catholic and other scholars now believe some material, particularly quotations and chronologies drawn from the Gospel attributed to Matthew, is not only inaccurate but also a provocation to hatred of Jews. Gibson was baptized a Catholic, but now belongs to a schismatic congregation that rejects most of the practices and teachings adopted by the church over the past 40 years.

"Mel Gibson, like all of us, has a right to freely express himself," Foxman said. "As an artist, let him have the film he wants to have. But, given the film he has made, I would like to see him do a postscript. Let him say, 'I did this film because I believe I was inspired by the Holy Ghost. I believe that Jesus suffered for all mankind. Some people want to put the blame for his death on the Jews. Don't do that. I've said I wanted to make a "Passion" of love. Blaming Jews for Christ's death would make this a "Passion" of hate.' "

As Lorenza Munoz and Larry B. Stammer reported Friday in The Times, Foxman -- who like other ADL officials has been barred by Gibson from screenings of "The Passion" -- finally managed to see a version by surreptitiously entering a gathering of Protestant ministers in Orlando, Fla., where it was being shown by the filmmaker. What Foxman saw, he said, "was a film that portrayed Jews as blood-thirsty and unambiguously responsible for the death of Christ. I now understand why Mr. Gibson didn't want us to see it."