The New York Times reports that in response to recent focus group results about his Christ movie, and probably in part due to protests by Jewish critics, Mel Gibson has decided to delete a controversial scene about Jews from his film "The Passion of the Christ".

A scene in the film in which the Jewish high priest Caiaphas seemingly places a curse on the Jewish people by declaring of the Crucifixion"His blood be on us and on our children" will not appear in the movie's final version said an anonymous associate of Gibson.

The passage had been included in some versions of the film that were shown before select groups, mostly of priests and ministers. The associate says "It didn't work in the focus screenings...maybe it was thought to be too hurtful, or taken not in the way it was intended. It has been used terribly over the years"

Meanwhile some new shots from the flick are up at MySan.

Thanks to 'Dust Bunny' & 'yako'