If you haven't heard about Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ," chances are, you haven't been watching the news.

As a labor of love for Gibson, the director, many Christians regard the film, which graphically depicts the final 12 hours of the life of Christ, as a way to bring the pinnacle event of Christianity to a mass audience. Critics, however, see the film as something threatening.

Beginning last June, the Anti-Defamation League, or ADL, began to air its concerns that the film would promote anti-Semitism.

On the ADL Web site, adl.org, several problematic elements of the film were addressed.

"'The Passion of The Christ' continues its unambiguous portrayal of Jews as being responsible for the death of Jesus ... At every single opportunity, Mr. Gibson's film reinforces the notion that the Jewish authorities and the Jewish mob are the ones ultimately responsible for the Crucifixion," said one of the site's statements.

Gibson and his supporters have maintained that the film simply is telling the story according to the Gospel and is not painting Jews as evil - citing the fact that Christ was himself a Jew and that the assimilation of the mob of Jews at the Crucifixion was part of the story and the historical era in which it takes place.

No matter the position, the film has become one of the most talked-about religious films of all time.

Because of this, it will likely be a box office smash as well as a hot topic for discussion.

Dan Boyer, general manager of Celebration! Cinema, 200 E. Edgewood Blvd. in Lansing, said the theater has sold thousands of tickets in advance, many purchased in bulk by church groups and religious organizations.

"We never see large groups come in and buy large blocks of tickets," he said. "A movie like this really shows how much value a movie theater has in the community, bringing in a story that is important to a large portion of the community."

One such group is Trinity Church, 3355 Dunckel Road in Lansing. Senior Pastor Brad Mitchell, who has seen an advance screening of the film, said the church has purchased about 2,500 advance tickets for the film.

Mitchell said the film accurately portrayed the Biblical text without promoting anti-Semitism.

"Within five minutes, I was drawn into what, to me, was the most accurate and powerful depiction of the last 12 hours of Jesus' life," he said. "Much of the controversy is fear-based, and unjustly so.

"A lot of it revolves around unfounded fear. Some of it is journalistic license - people trying to get a scoop. There's nothing in the movie that hasn't been in the gospel for 2,000 years."

Mitchell also pointed out that Christians believe Christ's death is attributed to his sacrifice for the sins of everybody, and can't be blamed on any individual.

"We (Christians) see the foundation of our faith as coming from Judaism. I have nothing but love and admiration for their faith. I would hope Christians would reach out to them. It was me who put Jesus on the cross. If I were in the crowd, I'd probably be yelling 'Crucify him,' too. I'm responsible for his death, too."

The religious context of the "The Passion of The Christ" and supposed anti-Semitic themes have fueled debates about the release and sparked media coverage recounting the life of Jesus.

Religious studies Professor Alford Welch attributes much of the controversy to the variation in modern analysis of the four gospels.

"When Christians read the word 'Jews' in the Bible, they look around and think about the Jewish community today," he said. "The problem is that many people take stories in the Bible as history when much of the narrative framework between the gospels does not match.

"You have to take statements in context. The world of Jesus or all of mankind at the time would have been the Jews and Gentiles, or Romans."

David Valk, a journalism and film studies senior who is Jewish, said he agrees with the idea that there is some potential that the film could have a damaging effect on the Jewish community.

He blames the media for putting such a negative spin on a film that he feels people are smart enough to judge for themselves.

"The media has spun it out of control," he said. "We are open-minded enough to make decisions for ourselves. They're only hurting the system. There seems to be excessive attention paid to one part of the film."

Valk said he lost a lot of respect for Gibson because of his decision to not screen the film in areas with high Jewish populations.

"I lost a lot of respect for Mel Gibson after I learned that he removed the film from areas with high Jewish populations," he said. "It seems like he's succumbing to the pressure people are putting on him.

"If he's trying to make it a point that he's being truthful and not anti-Semitic, he shouldn't feel the need not to show the film in Jewish areas. It makes me think he feels the American audience isn't smart enough to think for themselves."