The R16 classification has upset a Christian group which had already booked out an Auckland cinema for a screening and says some people will not be able to go now because they are too young, the New Zealand Herald reported.

''Should we ban the Bible next?'' asked Ross McCook, spokesman for the Auckland Christian Assembly. ''It describes Jesus' back being torn like a ploughed field.''

Chief censor Bill Hastings made his R16 classification, which includes a warning that the film contains brutal violence, torture and cruelty, after consulting representatives from the Jewish, Catholic, Presbyterian and Baptist religious groups, the paper said.

He said only one representative thought the film was anti- Semitic, as has been claimed by some Jewish communities overseas, and none of them thought it should be banned, though most were concerned about the depictions of violence.

''The Passion of the Christ'', which will open worldwide on Ash Wednesday next week, features graphic scenes showing Jesus being scourged with whips which have hooks and blades that stick in his flesh before being ripped away for fresh blows, the Herald said.

''Roman soldiers hammer a crown of thorns on to his head and nails are shown in close up being hammered into his palm, from which blood spurts.'' McCook said that while he had not seen the movie, it portrayed the most significant event of all time, ''a far cry from the barrage of rubbish to which young people were subjected these days'', the paper reported.

He said some restriction was inevitable but he had not expected it to be limited to any older than 13-year-olds.