Reconciling Homosexuality with Christian Faith

A new movie called For The Bible Tells Me So is now being screened in churches and theaters across the country. It was already a nominee for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival. The premise alone is compelling:

Can the love between two people ever be an abomination? Is the chasm separating gays and lesbians and Christianity too wide to cross? Is the Bible an excuse to hate?

Through the experiences of five very normal, very Christian, very American families — including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson — we discover how insightful people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child. Informed by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard’s Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO offers healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and sexual identity.

Check out the trailer:

Can’t wait to see this one.

(Thanks to Milena for the link!)

[tags]atheist, atheism, Christian, gay, lesbian[/tags]

Jeff

I want to see this!
Arlen

This was a great movie. I saw it several weeks back. I just wish that more people from the Religious Right would watch it. My screening was clearly full of folks who already agreed with the movie’s main idea.
vjack

That does sound like an interesting one. The Christian extremist response should be interesting as well.
Chris

I’ve seen the movie and it was great. I hope Christians will actually put down their ignorant battle axes and take a look at it.
Shalini

All’s well if you pick and choose from the Bible. Oh, well…
Linda

Oh no, I see the heated discussions coming…

Although as Arlen pointed out, I suspect the people who need to see the movie probably will not, which is a shame…
Robin

Well, the DVD is coming out soon, so I will no doubt see it.

That said, however, I’m not expecting it to say anything that hasn’t been said before. There is definitely a minority of Christians who don’t have a problem with gay people or homosexuality.

The operative word there is “minority”. The majority still sees people like me as being sub-human.

Fortunately for me, opinions of the ignorant just don’t matter a whit to me anymore. But I live in circumstances were homophobia is simply not a huge concern for me anymore.

There are far too many people who are living in other circumstances, in which they can be rendered homeless, jobless, or in direct physical danger because of the prevailing Christian attitudes toward GLBT people. Not to mention those of us living in predominantly Islamic countries, where the problems are mulitiplied exponentially.

The alternative view I’d like to see presented in “For the Bible Tells Me So” is the path that I’d like to see more GLBT people take.

Rejecting Christianity altogether.
Mriana

HEY! Leave the Episcopal Church out of this. They are the most humanistic of all churches, excluding the conservative bigotted, sexist, and hateful branch of the Episcopal Church. Robinson is a very nice man too. First the conservatives throw a fit about women priests and bishops, now they throw a tantrum about gays. They need to get off their self-rightous, bigotted, assholy-ish butts and start being more dignifying to human beings. I’d probably still be attending if it weren’t from all the hate coming from the conservative Episcopalians. I truly do not like hate and I have always stirred away from it. I don’t know how Bob Price does it, but more power to him if he can withstand all the hate and cruel preaching being thrown around by the hateful bigotted, sexist conservitives in the Episcopal Church. Of course, most of them are susceeding from the Episcopal Church here lately, so maybe I can have a social hour again, without hatefulness. Either that, or I might just go to the U.U. when I desire human company without business. 🙁

Chris, not all Christians have ignorant battle axes. If you really think that, take a closer look at Robinson, Spong, Schori and others in the Episcopal Church. Even as a former Episcopalian and as a Humanist, I will defend those who are like them, because they are NOT hateful bigots etc, but very humanistic in their beliefs. Bishop Schori and Bishop Spong were one of the few clergy who got Fr. Robinson, who is Gay, into the priesthood. They do not have one hateful bone in their bodies and are VERY humanistic.
Jen

The trailer looks lovely, but I am not sure if I want to see the movie. I don’t want gay people to be discriminated against, most especially by the church, but I also don’t want to watch two hours of people trying to make the Bible out to be a loving book. If I want to know if Jesus loves gay people, I will watch the last 6 minutes of Saved. While I am happy to see a movie that portrays gay people in a good light (and Fred Phelps in a bad one), I think I would rather see the movie end with someone saying, “Fuck it, I am tired of having to pick and choose my Bible verses. Let’s go be atheists!”.
Darryl

I’m with Jen. Of course gays should be accepted like anyone else, and of course Christians ought to be the most loving and accepting people around, but I don’t need to hear how clever believers have managed to construct novel interpretations of an archaic, primitive collection of religious texts to say what they clearly do not. When will Christians of good will just come out and say they reject the Bible on this matter and go with their instincts.