The opening scene to For The Bible Tells Me So is great. It’s a little scary at first. I was watching, thinking “what have I got myself into?” It appeared as though the film was going to be a bunch of anti-gay Christian propaganda. It was an old news clip of a woman talking on television about how homosexuality was a terrible thing, and that she and her associates were not there to condemn the gay folk, but rather to help them by changing their lifestyle and “curing” them. Then, out of nowhere, a guy shows up and slams her in the face with a pie. Hilarious! As it turns out, the film is not anti-gay propaganda, but rather anti-anti-gay propaganda. It examines the way fundamentalist, right-wing Christians have distorted the meaning of the words in the Bible to further a bizarrely conceived anti-homosexual agenda.
People are quoted everywhere in this movie saying that the bible says homosexuality is “an abomination”. And many of them can, indeed, quote chapter and verse. However, the gay-bashers and anti-homosexual preachers and pastors and rabbis are using a very convenient interpretation of the bible. Of course, we all know that the bible is interpreted very differently by many people. Which is why some Christians are catholics and others knock on my door to give me pamphlets about doomsday that feature creepy pictures of children feeding goats. But everyone who has chosen to engage in this crusade against homosexuality is doing more than interpreting the bible differently than sane people. They are purposely ignoring large portions of the book.
You see, if you took the one passage from Leviticus that homophobes have used as their shining example of God’s hatred of homosexuality, and you took it at face value, you would be entirely missing the point. This is the passage: “You shall not lie with a male as those who lie with a female; it is an abomination.” If that was the only passage you read, and you were a bible-thumping nutjob, you might think God was anti-gay. But if you read the rest of Leviticus, you would realize that the word “abomination” is not nearly as harsh as it seems. In fact, anything the least bit out of the ordinary is, in this chapter, an “abomination”. Like eating shrimp. Abomination. Eating rabbit. Abomination. Eating bacon, oysters, ham, pork chops, lobster and crab. Abominations. But you are allowed to eat locusts. Huzzah for the bible! I don’t see Fred Phelps holding rallies outside seafood restaurants or pig farms. Or eating locusts. Although I would very much like to see Fred Phelps eat locusts.
Actually, Phelps is not in this movie, amazingly. Which is kind of great, because he represents the extreme. The really out-to-lunch lunatic fringe of the church and Christianity in general. And that isn’t what the movie is about. It’s about the opinions of regular, ordinary Christians, and how they are affected by those around them. We meet many devoted religious believers who have had to deal with gay children. Some are more tolerant than others, some actually became estranged from their children while others became activists for gay rights themselves. The film also deals with the idea of ordaining gay ministers. The backlash against those who have become ordained, and the support they received from other parts of the Christian community.
And this is what makes this movie wonderful. It is certainly a movie that takes sides - It has chosen to take the side of common sense over the side of rabid homphobic insanity. But the fact that it stays right in the middle, with average Christians of all denominations - catholic, baptist, lutheran, you name it - and examine their beliefs and the origin of those beliefs. And for the most part, these beliefs originate with the ignorance of others. If your priest is constantly telling you that homosexuality is unnatural and evil, and you have built your life on following the bible and the teachings of your church, then it only stands to reason that you will have a difficult time reconciling those deeply-held beliefs with the truth when you are presented with the real facts.
After watching the film, I wanted to read more about the church and the crazy divide that has been caused by support for, and opposition to, the gay and lesbian community. In fact, I have done considerable research just for this review. Here is a great website that examines all six bible chapters that homophobes cite when condemning the gay lifestyle, and explanations for why it’s a little nuts.
http://www.otkenyer.hu/truluck/six_bible_passages.html
And that’s the last thing that makes this movie great. It knows exactly where it’s going. It doesn’t talk at all about non-religious people. And I am most assuredly a non-religious person. But I found it fascinating nonetheless. It never makes the easy point that blindly following the bible is a poor way to make any decision. It never takes the easy road that is constantly presented by fervent religious believers with their crazy behaviour and antics. It takes on those beliefs at the very root, and presents the facts in such a way that almost any religious person, with the possible exception of the most rabid homophobic ones, would have to really think about their views in the context of this film. A powerful statement on an important subject.