Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” sparked cries of anti-Semitism long before the movie made its astounding nationwide debut last week. And the controversy continues with many Jewish — and even some Christian organizations — worried that the movie might still encourage widespread anti-Semitism.

“There could be some anti-Semitic fallout as a result of this (movie),” said Allison Mayerson, spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League in Los Angeles. “In the movie, there’s an unambiguous portrayal of the Jews as being responsible for the death of Jesus,” she said.

Not everybody feels the same way.

“I didn’t see one thing that I thought was anti-Jew,” said Father Craig Harrison, of St. Francis Church in Bakersfield. “I think sometimes people get confused, but as Christians, we take full responsibility for the death of Christ. We believe he died for our sins,” he said.

Gary Nava, who is Catholic, was on his way to go see the film.

“Anybody who goes in thinking the Jews did it, the Romans did it, you lost the flavor,” said Nava. “He died for us.”

Gibson, who put up $25 million of his own money to make the film, deleted a subtitle in which the Jewish high priest Caiaphas says Jesus’ blood will forever be on Jews’ hands, according to an article on usatoday.com.

But the Anti-Defamation League believes that some groups will use “The Passion of the Christ” as a way to recruit people. The National Alliance, a white supremacist group, has already used the movie as an opportunity to send recruitment fliers around, according to Mayerson. “This is just the kind of danger we were concerned about,” she said.

It’s not just Jewish leaders who are concerned about an anti-Semitic reaction. Some Christian leaders have voiced their concerns about the depiction of Jews in the movie.

In an article on latimes.com, Mike Evans, an evangelical minister in Dallas, claims that he told Gibson after a private screening that he didn’t want his savior “to be used as a sword to injure Jewish people.” He also asked Gibson to add a line of text after the last scene saying, “During the Roman occupation, 250,000 Jews were crucified by the Romans, but only one rose from the dead.” Evans said that Gibson agreed to add it, but the change was not made when the movie debuted.

“The Passion of the Christ” had a huge opening week, making more than $125 million during its first week in theaters.