As The Times reported Friday, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" has earned $335 million in the U.S. since its release on Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday. After pulling in huge crowds throughout Latin America, the film has opened at No. 1 over the last week in Italy, Croatia, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Its international gross already has topped $100 million, and officials of Newmarket Films, which is distributing the movie, say the domestic total may reach $400 million.

In an interview this week, Andrew Kohut, who directs the Pew Research Center, said, "I don't think anybody could describe this finding as positive. Personally, I wish we had had the resources to extend this poll and to look at the consequences of this belief. In other words, to look at whether there is a concurrent rise in negative attitudes toward Jews. Our initial finding is that the belief that the Jews were responsible for the death of Christ is more prevalent than it was and that the growth may be related to the film. We do an annual survey on religious attitudes and we plan to use it to look more broadly at this question."

"What is so shocking about Gibson's Jews is how unreconstructed they are in their stereotypical appearances and actions. These are not merely anti-Semitic images; these are classically anti-Semitic images. In this regard, Gibson is most certainly a traditionalist."