For The Bible Tells Me So


3/4

Unrated (appropriate for kids)

As a staunch supporter of gay rights and a vocal critic of the hateful rhetoric spouted by the anti-gay Christian Right, I found this documentary very moving and very powerful.  As a critic, I can’t champion it with the same passion, although I wholeheartedly recommend it without any reservations.

The Bible has been used for many purposes, mainly to bring hope and meaning to people and to spread the message of love and acceptance to people around the world for nearly two thousand years.  It has also been used for more sinister purposes: to completely alienate, discriminate and kill many different people (The Crusades, women, blacks, just to name a few).  And now, gays are on the religious conservatives list for people to condemn.  And according to many biblical scholars and regular people, the idea that God is against homosexuality is simply ludicrous.

The film does two things: one, it examines the experiences of five families with a gay child, and it examines the perceived conflict between the Bible and homosexuality.  Both are interesting and moving, although for someone like me who has researched this, the latter doesn’t exactly present anything new.  The stories with the families, however, are both poignant, inspiring, and at times, tragic.

The film’s thesis is that the passages used to condemn homosexuality are taken out of context or they no longer apply to our modern society.  This is fascinating, and we get interviews from the likes of Gene Robinson, the world’s first openly gay bishop, and Desmond Tutu.

The documentary isn’t particularly well put together.  It’s competently made, to be sure, but that’s about it.  The cuts between each segment are way too long and inelegantly done, and there is a cartoon about whether or not homosexuality is a choice, that while very amusing, is out of place (although to be fair, there’s not much of a place for it anyway.  I was still happy they included it though).

The film picks up in the second half as it places the gay rights movement into a social context.  We hear about the damage that anti-gay figureheads are doing to gay and lesbian children.  The suicide rates are astronomical (one of which is examined in the film), and the so-called “ex-gay ministries” are denounced as not only ineffective, but dangerous.  James Dobson, who is arguably the most powerful figure in the anti-gay movement, is singled out in particular as nothing more than a liar and a charlatan.

There are times when this film is a little disturbing, but that’s because it has a point to make (quite frankly, it’s ideal for children as well as adults—it’s about a PG level film).  But it is also powerful, inspiring and at times funny.  The sad thing is that I doubt that the people who need to see it (James Dobson and his flock for instance) won’t see it because they have their opinions formed.  But for anyone who is curious or uncertain about how to react to homosexuality, this is a must-see.

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