Open Letter to Mel Gibson

Dear Mr. Gibson,

You have stated, when you converted to Christianity, that achieving "world" goals such as fame leaves one empty. I would like to know what is worse: Being empty or being full of wrong things?

It is not a particularly outrageous question to ask, in light of your recent behavior. I must confess that I liked your previous work. In movies such as Braveheart you performed an excellent job playing real-world heroes who did great things. But then you came up with that horrible movie that motivated many people who were previously not anti-semitic to be anti-semitic, and I am wondering: Am I the only person who thinks that your self pre-conversion was better than your self post-conversion?

Add to that your recent violent behavior toward your wife, and I question. Is "being reborn," as some people in Christianity refer to their conversion, an improvement or a degradation upon their previous selves? I for one would take your Braveheart self over your Passion self any time. And while I do not know your previous relationship history, there is very little sainthood in your behavior toward your young Russian wife.

Having myself been a Christian for a number of years in my adult life, I am aware of the convincing arguments and the promise that comes with Christianity. I however have not noticed people who have converted to Christianity becoming better people than they had been before. In your case, you didn't only not become a better person; you became a demonstrably worse person. As the New Testament says, "by their fruits you shall know them." Your violent behavior toward a woman and your anti-semitic statements offer all the fruits that one needs to understand that the changes that have happened in you have not been changes for the better. Whatever you have been reborn into, has been a great degradation over your previous self.

The people committed to Christianity are certainly entitled to the right to speak their opinions; but I am as well. And what I have seen in you is not only a degradation in you personally, but a degradation that very widely throws open the claim that conversion to Christianity makes one a better person than what one has been before. You have been acting like a major jerk, post-conversion, whereas your behavior prior to your conversion was much more respectable. Whatever changes you have undergone have not been an improvement. And whether the reason for that is Christianity or the way in which you choose to practice Christianity, you make your faith look bad in either case.