This country scares me lately.

First, Christian groups nationwide are planning to use Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” as an evangelism tool.

I have no problem with more Christians. There’s nothing wrong with Christianity itself. What I worry about is what it all means for me as a Jew, as more and more people use Christianity as an excuse for their own fears. I particularly worry that this movie will increase anti-Semitism in the United States. I worry — and this might sound ridiculous — I worry that this country is on a path that someday, in the distant future, will lead to Jews becoming second-class citizens. Perhaps even rounded up. Yeah, it might sound ridiculous — a stereotypical Jewish fear, this fear of another Holocaust. But hey, it couldn’t happen in Germany, right? The German Jews were proud, patriotic Germans. Who’d want to hurt them?

I’m not saying this will happen in five years or even in 20 years. But in 40 or 50 years? Who knows. What will happen in this country in coming decades? Change come fast and change come slow. You can’t always see it happening. You tolerate small adjustments, and then more small adjustments, and then one day — due to international events, economic downturns, changes in technology and communication — you’re living in a completely different world. Look at how things have changed in just the last three years. Now multiply that by 10 or 20.

The other reason this country scares me is that following yesterday’s clarification by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts that gay marriage means gay marriage, opponents have vowed that it will galvanize their push for a anti-gay-marriage federal constitutional amendment. Maybe I should feel happy that I live in a nation in which a state’s highest court can declare gay marriage a constitutional right. I am, somewhat. But I’m nervous about the backlash.

Fear is so powerful. Adults — adults who hold jobs and own homes and drive cars and raise children — turn into children. Why are people so afraid of change? Why do human beings always act this way, in every country on Earth and in every time period in history?

Americans aren’t special. This nation was founded on tolerance, but look at the intolerance of the Puritans. Look at the Know-Nothings. Slavery. The Red Scare. McCarthyism.

Americans are no better than anyone else.