BRIAN - What do you think of these comments by Orson Scott Card.
http://www.nauvoo.com/r-rated-movie.html
I think he makes a good point.

JOEL - He does make some good points; although the murmuring attitude of his words bothers me a little.
Church leaders provide counsel based on what they believe God wants the the majority of the membership of the Church to hear. They are not going to command us in every little thing or pick and choose which movies we are allowed to see. They give some general counsel on the subject and allow the members to govern themselves and make their own choices on the details, based on their own personalities and level of gospel obedience and testimony. Our Church leaders are trying to help us get closer to Christ and in their inspired opinion, watching inappropriate movies is not going to help us do that.

The R-rating on "The Passion of the Christ" issue is a bit of a paradox. It is a movie that quite possibly might help one get closer to Christ; but this is an exception and an opportunity for each member to choose for himself if it is something he needs to see. The statement from the bishop's counselor: "I would just like to say that our church does not condone going to see R-rated movies based on their violence, graphic and sexual content." was appropriate, because it was a true statement about the Church's stand on movies in general. The challenge by the member of the Stake Presidency to not see that particular movie may have been a little bold and seemingly unnecessary, but I am sure he meant well.

Actually when church leaders talk about this they don't usually specify R-rated movies as something to avoid, because there are a lot of PG-13 movies that would also be inappropriate. In fact the youth of the church are counseled:

"Do not attend, view, or participate in entertainment that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not participate in entertainment that in any way presents immorality or violent behavior as acceptable. Depictions of violence often glamorize vicious behavior. They offend the Spirit and make you less able to respond to others in a sensitive, caring way. They contradict the Savior’s message of love for one another.
Have the courage to walk out of a movie or video party, turn off a computer or television, change a radio station, or put down a magazine if what is being presented does not meet Heavenly Father’s standards." (For the Strength of Youth)

Notice no specific mention of R or PG-13 rated movies. When deciding what movie to watch we can take the above advice and apply it to our decision without having to worry about how it is rated. As Elder H.
Burke Peterson said:
"Our standards should not be dictated by the rating system." (Gen. Conf. Oct. 1993).
Those who rate the movies are hardly in a position to define appropriate standards or suggest moral guidelines for everyone. This is particularly true for Latter-day Saints. Since the judges are ignorant of LDS values, they cannot be responsive to the goals and objectives of Latter-day Saint families.

I have not yet seen "The Passion" movie, but plan to rent or buy it someday. My wife refuses to see it, but not because of the R rating, it is because she could not handle the Church's own depiction of the crucifiction in the movie, "The Lamb of God", and therefore knows that she could not handle the more graphic nature of "The Passion" :-)
Our leaders teach us correct principles and we govern ourselves, and we should not judge others if the choices they make are different from ours. There is nothing wrong with encouraging each other to do what is right, but in my opinion Church members who put other members down for not conforming to a principle in a particular way, are only revealing their own lack of confidence and testimony in the Gospel.