'PASSION' IMPACT IS BIGGER THAN OSCAR MOVIE WON CONVERTS, CONFESSIONS, FILMGOERS, MORE MONEY THAN GOD.

Byline: Bridget Johnson

I confess, I wasn't part of the conservative-fury blitz the morning of Jan. 25, when fur started to fly over ``The Passion of the Christ'' being passed over for major Oscar nominations. In all my political selfishness, I was in a nah-nah-nah, Michael-Moore-got-dissed red state of mind.

In my mind, ``The Passion'' had already won. It won converts, confessions from criminals, a new flock of moviegoers and more money than God.

Moore's ``Fahrenheit 9/11'' couldn't even topple a controversial president with a low approval rating during an unpopular war. And Moore couldn't nail down an Oscar nod even with a hefty helping of self-promotion and campaigning. Shunning campaigning for an Oscar nod, ``Passion'' guru Mel Gibson, you could say, left it up to God. And the Academy created three. And then there was fight.

And oh, those poor three. Every time I hear a pundit or blogger say ``The Passion'' was mercilessly snubbed, given a trio of ``minor'' nominations, I feel bad for Caleb Deschanel, John Debney, Keith VanderLaan and Christien Tinsley. Introductions? These are, of course, the people who were nominated for the awards of nothingness in the Oscar race - namely, cinematography, original score and makeup. Without this impressive crew, the movie might have looked like it was shot with a 1980s Handycam or scored by a junior high band playing recorders.

Yes, it stinks that an artistic masterpiece such as ``The Passion'' was overlooked for the big-boy categories. A group called Passion for Fairness, which had petitioned the Academy before nomination time, is now urging all Americans to not watch the Oscars on Feb. 27. Bloggers have decried Hollywood as being hostile to Christian themes and have taken their anger out on the five films selected for the Best Picture nomination.

Instead, this experience can be turned into a tangible lesson: for the industry, studying what drew those who had been turned off by Hollywood back to the theaters; for conservative-minded filmmakers, learning from Gibson's creative marketing and skillful interpretation of the Stations of the Cross; for moviegoers, learning how to vote for what you want to see at the box office in the ultimate dollar democracy.

And, of course, we need to read between the ``Passion'' lines at this year's Oscars.

First, some good news: Three of the five Best Picture nominees were also on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' year-end top 10 list: ``The Aviator,'' ``Finding Neverland'' and ``Ray.'' So there's a vote of confidence from an extra-critical bunch of film critics as to the moral as well as artistic quality of those flicks.

Another plus this year were nominations for Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo for ``Hotel Rwanda.'' With a bit of Oscar buzz, more people may see this important film and learn about how much good U.N. peacekeeping missions do. Taylor Hackford, nominated director of ``Ray,'' gave us another point of Oscar light by proving there need not be any color barriers in film - a white director can make a black film to be loved and appreciated by filmgoers of all races.

On the darker side, this is a banner year for euthanasia - the plot twist in ``Million Dollar Baby'' and the whole plot of the Spanish film ``The Sea Inside'' - and abortion, with ``Vera Drake'' getting three nominations. I'd hate for all the controversy tidily avoided by the Moore/Gibson passover to be replaced by an Oscar show like when John Irving won best adapted screenplay in 2000 for ``The Cider House Rules,'' and thanked Planned Parenthood in his acceptance speech.

Much as Oscar may have intended to avoid controversy by dismissing ``Fahrenheit 9/11'' and ``The Passion,'' the show is going to avoid neither politics nor controversy. In fact, I'll give them one more: When the dramatic music starts to roll and pictures of those deceased in the past year are shown during the Academy Awards telecast, will Theo van Gogh be included? You know, that Dutch director - who made ``Submission,'' a short film critical of the treatment of women in Islam - viciously murdered in November on the streets of Amsterdam for exercising freedom of speech, a deeply held belief among all creators in Hollywood.

Considering how Oscars played it so far, they may ignore van Gogh, run an extended Ronald Reagan tribute and call it even.

Or is it really called playing it safe?