This evening I had the priviledge of being in the audience of the UK premiere of ‘for the BIBLE tells me so’. An evening hosted by Sir Ian McKellen along with that all too controvesial US bishop, Gene Robinson. The film was shown first, followed by a question and answer session with the two hosts and finished off with a perfomance by Sir Ian of a Shakespearian speech from riots during the reign of Henry VIII.
A more relevant topic is hard to come by - timed to coincide with the Lambeth conference to which over 250 bishops refuse to attend because of this very issue. By not attending of course, they allow the liberal side they disagree with so strongly to have a disproportionate voice - but I digress. For me, the opportunity to see a film on the subject is a great one. Not, one might surmise, because it has a personal bearing on my life but rather because it engages with one of my main frustrations with the church. That of letting interpretation of scripture get in the way of sympathising, empathising and loving other human beings.
Let me tell you about this documentary. I guess it was around two hours long and like all good films focused on stories. Stories of families growing up in conservative churches where they were taught that homosexuality was somewhere between being an abomination and a passport to hell. That’s all good; until one of your children announces that they are that so called abomination. Some parents reject their children, some continue to love the part of their child that is free of sin and others embrace their child and go so far beyond the call of parental duty that they end up arrested. In each case the parents are living life with one world view and when that view is fundamentally challenged they react in different ways - some by radically altering their world view with their new reality. Gene Robinson is one of the children and woven through the film is a biography of his childhood, coming of age, therapy, marriage, break-up and his new relationships with his partner and the church.
Classic themes run through the film such as ‘homosexuality is simply a choice’, ‘it’s wrong because scripture says so’ and other typical responses. Many of these are tackled through a variety of interviews and cartoons. Towards the end we are introduced to one of the organisations protesting for acceptance within the church, and particularly to eradicate the teaching that we are shown is responsible for much guilt, fear and suicides.
Granted, the documentary is heavily polarised toward the liberal view. However, it’s a film that is intelligent, well researched, very well edited and I considered it to tell it’s side of the argument well without resorting to any polemic. Regardless of where you stand on these issues, it becomes very clear that one thing is certain beyond all doubt: homophobia is a sin that is being commited world wide and is something that we should be determined to eliminate.
Highlights of the question and answer session included:
- Gene’s comment that whilst the rest of the world continue to argue about the issue, New Hampshire are ‘getting on with the gospel’
- In response to a question regarding adoptions in same sex parent families Gene quoted some research whose only detectable result in studies was to show that such children had much greater levels of tolerance
- In response to a man talking about his loss of faith in the church due to persecution: “remember that God and the church are not the same thing” -> “the church sometimes gets it wrong; God doesn’t”
- Gene’s comment about how can a so called state church get exemptions from civil standards
- Defining optimism and hope as what we are capable of doing and what we have in God. Gene’s preference is to talk about hope rather than optimism.
- Sir Ian saying “you’ve practically converted me to Christianity” before his incredible recital
I’m not sure where you can go to see the film, but if and when you get the opportunity I recommend that you listen to the side of the argument it deals with. I’d also like to point you at Giles Fraser’s column over at the Guardian, describing the last few days that he has spent with Gene Robinson.
Brilliant summary. Unfortunately I don’t have your gift of writing… so a little brain dump from myself.
I “felt” Gene came across as being more Gay-centered, rather than God-centered, which is a big statement to make about someone in his position. I felt he had a brilliant opportunity to share more about the gospel to an audience that was incredibly varied and clearly regarded him as a hero (no pun intended).
To look from the perspective of human rights is difficult for me because part of me assumes that everyone thinks GBLT-bashing is abhorrent. So I immediately think of the children (hence why I asked the question). Should children have the right to start life with a mother and father? I believe so. Does it happen? No, not often enough. Biologically, I can’t see a great deal of justification, despite the singular study that Gene mentioned. I was disappointed that he did not embark on a scriptural perspective as well.
Another question I wanted to ask was Gene’s perspective on sex outside of marriage. Given the gay community has a reputation for promiscuity (I know more lesbians than gays and they’re not promiscuous at all), I was intrigued to know if he held a “no sex before marriage” stance or not.
The scientific section did nothing for me. It was too brief and skewed, in my opinion (I’m off to investigate the facts!!). Nature versus Nurture is such a massive debate that I can’t accept the stance put forth by the movie. I need more data - the downfall of being an engineer, perhaps.
I don’t really have a comment to make but enjoyed the read so thought I’d make a comment…:)
[...] The last few weeks have been positively crazy. It’s still a time of change and I’m continuing to embrace this. A few recommendations… In theatre, the 39 steps - very funny, cleverly executed and thoroughly enjoyable. In music - the new Duke Special album, I never thought this day would come, is as hopeful as it is wistful - my preferred soundtrack at the moment. In books - I was thoroughly enjoying Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama until it was torn from my hands and never returned - hopefully I’ll finish it soon. And on the topic of Obama - the current This American Life is an episode about some of the hype and opinion around the states. I also recently listened to their episode about an evangelical pastor who stopped believing in hell and the resulting fall out (as fascinating as for the bible tells me so). [...]