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Friday, October 12, 2007
Every person who advocates LGBT civil rights and same-sex marriage equality must read The Bible. In the United States, it’s the primary weapon used against gays.
You may be surprised to learn that very few verses in The Bible—about seven in total—remotely refer to what we consider homosexuality. But a few of those verses are constantly lobbed against us like grenades. Why then, would we not want to learn how to diffuse the grenades?
That’s why everyone should see Daniel Karslake’s documentary “For the Bible Tells Me So.” It’s playing in New York City at Quad Cinema (34 W. 13th St., quadcinema.com) and is opening across the country this fall.
For The Blade’s recent review of the film and an interview with openly gay bishop V. Gene Robinson, who is featured in the film, visit our online archives at nyblade.com.
The film follows devout Christian families—specifically from the parents’ point of view—who discover a child is gay or lesbian. This revelation forces the families to re-evaluate everything they thought they knew about The Bible.
In addition, and perhaps more important to folks who are already out of the closet or are not Christian, the documentary also examines the scripture quoted by the anti-gay religious right. The verses are placed in a historical and cultural context—basic information that has been shockingly absent from everyday dialogue about Christianity and The Bible.
“This movie gives people the tools and the confidence to say, ‘Well, actually the Bible doesn’t say what it at first means,’” Robinson said.
For example, most scholars and many religious leaders today maintain that the Sodom and Gomorrah story—the two cities God destroyed in Genesis—is not about the sin of homosexuality but instead the sin of inhospitality.
The oft-quoted Leviticus 18:22 (King James Version) reads: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abomination.” But what exactly is an abomination? A breaking of Jewish ritual. Eating shell fish is an abomination, as is planting two different seeds in the same field. If Christians followed all the rules of the Old Testament, they’d be Kosher. (Modern interpretations of that same verse blatantly inject homophobia. The Living Bible, for example, reads: “Homosexuality is absolutely forbidden, for it is an enormous sin.”)
It is important to understand translations of the Bible because scripture is often the basis for hatred and ignorance against us. As director Karslake says, “I can name 15 Christian televangelists who’ve said something hateful and negative and damaging to me.”
And they get away with it.
The religious right has been enormously successful in packaging their brand of anti-gay Christianity as the only interpretation of Bible in this country. Karslake’s film introduces a whole array of well-spoken religious leaders who offer an alternative Christian view on homosexuality.
But we can’t leave the fight up to Robinson, the Rev. Irene Monroe, Desmund Tutu and the Rev. Peter Gomes. We must be able to have “the talk” about Christianity and homosexuality. And we must be able to do it in a non-confrontational manner that isn’t condescending.
If you can’t do that, this documentary will give you a brief tutorial. And when it’s out on DVD, you can give it to those in need of Bible schoolin’. Karslake made the film with middle-American Christian families in mind; it is accessible to them.
Gays living in urban centers, surrounded by our liberal friends, are prone to lose touch with the documentary’s powerful message and its ability to speak the language of the Red states.
The New York Times’ review of “For the Bible Tells Me So” glossed over the film’s larger message of reclaiming scripture and setting a new discussion about morality in this country. Instead, the review focused more on Karslake’s filming technique and the schmaltzy emotional stories of the families. To squabble over such points is like faulting the Declaration of Independence for sloppy penmanship.
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