At issue is whether Gibson rejects the doctrine enacted by the Second Vatican Council, which absolved the Jews of responsibility for Jesus’s death.

Cohen draws a distinction between the traditional anti-Jewish doctrine of the Catholic church, which condemns the Jews who killed Jesus, with the anti-Semitic hatred of other Jews because of their ancestors. He said Vatican II tried to end only the latter.

But many who have seen the film do not believe that it promotes anti-Semitism.

“Anyone who pays attention to the movie...would not leave the theater with any feeling of anti-Semitism,” Saldarriaga said.

Gomes also said that there was no danger of the movie promoting anti-Semitism.

“I don’t think any person will see this movie and think, ‘look what the Jews did,’ and go out onto the street and try to get his hands on the Jews,” he said.

And many members of the Jewish community said they praise the movie for fostering a dialogue about the Bible and modern anti-Semitism.

“It’s an interesting thing that while the movie itself may be so problematic...it brought people together from many different backgrounds” said Hillel’s Director of Programming Michael A. Simon, referring to an interfaith discussion of the film held at Hillel about two weeks ago.