“For the Bible Tells Me So,” is a documentary about religion and homosexuality. Primarily, the film depicts the struggles of several individuals as they realize they are gay, and how this affects their relationship with faith and family. The film illustrates how devastating the suffering some gays face and the struggles some Christian families encounter when a family member is gay. It is heartbreaking to watch moments of hate-mongering and discrimination against homosexuals, especially when done by family members or in the name of one’s religion. Many people proclaim, particularly Christian fundamentalist, that homosexuality is sinful because it says so in the Bible. However, many people admit that they have never read the entire bible, and can’t accurately cite where it says this. They simply repeat the message(s) from pastors, parents, etc., rather than careful study and research. One of the movie’s most quotable moment, “There’s nothing wrong with a fifth-grade understanding of God – as long as you’re in the fifth grade.” The first story centers on Gene Robinson, now the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, and the son of a loving, church-going couple from Kentucky. Next, we meet the Poteats, a Baptist family from North Carolina with a gay son and daughter. Then there are the Reitans, from Minnesota, whose son Jake comes from a long line of Lutheran pastors. When Jake came out of the closet, some of the locals threw a brick through their windshield and wrote “fag” in chalk outside the house. The mother’s description of immediately scrubbing the profanity off the driveway was very poignant. Perhaps the most heartbreaking story was that of Mary Lou Wallner, a Christian fundamentalist who rejected her lesbian daughter, which ... ... middle of paper ... ...to understand history, doctrines, and origins. Religion and homosexuality need not be mutually exclusive: you can be a good Christians and still love and accept LGBT people. I strongly believe that through Jesus, God wanted us to learn to love one another, and to treat everyone with dignity and respect. Using the Bible to justify persecution of anyone is despicable. Unfortunately, the Bible has been used to endorse racism, slavery, subjugation of women, and persecution of the Jews. Overall, the film effectively depicts individual stories of homosexuals and their families’ struggles that are both inspiring and a warning. If we are to ask, “What would Jesus do”, I think the Bible demonstrates over and over that we are to love, not hate or condemn. I thinks it’s time society wake-up and search for spiritual truth and let go of old stereotypes and embrace humanity.
Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their lives. Geanne Harwood, interviewed on an National Public Radio Broadcast commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, said that “being gay before Stonewall was a very difficult proposition … we felt that in order to survive we had to try to look and act as rugged and as manly as possibly to get by in a society that was really very much against us.” The age of communist threats, and of Joseph McCarthy’s insistence that homosexuals were treacherous, gave credence to the feeling of most society members that homosexuality was a perversion, and that one inflicted was one to not be trusted.
In Vicki L. Eaklor’s Queer America, the experiences of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people in the years since the 1970s gay liberation movement are described as a time of transformation and growth. The antigay movement, threatened, now more than ever, created numerous challenges and obstacles that are still prevalent today. Many of the important changes made associated with the movement were introduced through queer and queer allied individuals and groups involved in politics. Small victories such as the revision of the anti discrimination statement to include “sexual orientation”, new propositions regarding the Equal Rights Amendment and legalized abortion, were met in turn with growing animosity and resistance from individuals and groups opposed to liberal and
middle of paper ... ... I heard someone say once a quote that I think fits really well, that Christians’ fight with values and it is almost impossible to fight with values. This is true and I think because you can’t necessarily fight values we have to attempt to change values and that can be much more effective with something that hits home a little more than scientific facts might. Overall, the film was a very informative film for a more homophobic audience.
In the past decades, the struggle for gay rights in the Unites States has taken many forms. Previously, homosexuality was viewed as immoral. Many people also viewed it as pathologic because the American Psychiatric Association classified it as a psychiatric disorder. As a result, many people remained in ‘the closet’ because they were afraid of losing their jobs or being discriminated against in the society. According to David Allyn, though most gays could pass in the heterosexual world, they tended to live in fear and lies because they could not look towards their families for support. At the same time, openly gay establishments were often shut down to keep openly gay people under close scrutiny (Allyn 146). But since the 1960s, people have dedicated themselves in fighting for
When looking at religion from an educational perspective, conflicts may arise due to the various interpretations when analyzing religious text. When differing interpretations appear about various topics, this can then lend itself to starting conflict among people with varying opinions. Using the “The Gay Debate” by Matthew Vines as an example, we are able to look at an individual’s interpretation of the Bible regarding the topic of homosexuality and Christianity. When looking at the argument the reader has to break down the strategies used by the speaker to test its validity and then reflect on the possibility for this deductive reasoning to be applied to other arguments.
Christian Fundamentalists translate verse 22 of Leviticus 18 to say, “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” This makes it clear that Christian fundamentalists are against homosexuality. The commentary states, “Homosexuality is absolutely forbidden, for it is an enormous sin.” Fundamentalist Christians view the Bible as the word of God in plain sense. They believe that the Bible is the closest and truest version of God’s actual words, since they believe that God spoke
Gay begins her article by first mentioning how her parents took her on an unexpected trip which educated her for the future. Since Gay was a child when she witnessed all the poverty and uncleanliness of the
People’s different values and morals play a role in defining what they believe. Many people find homosexuality to be not natural, and it goes against many people’s views. However, there is also a lot of people who argue in favor of homosexuality and find nothing about it unnatural. For those people who do think it is not natural they normally use the argument that this kind of sex can not reproduce, therefore it is not right because the point of sex is to reproduce. Many times the Bible will also be used to refer to verses that condemn acts of homosexual sex. People who favor the morality of homosexuality find many things wrong with these arguments. To say that the only purpose of sex is to reproduce would be wrong because there are many examples of heterosexual couples who have sex without the intention of conception. Medical problems, protected sex, and just sex for fun are all reasons why
Like Wilkins’s piece this narrative was very easy to follow. But where the two differ is Savory’s piece has more details to make her point and even includes other stories she has read or been told. It could have just as easily been a jumbled mess, but all the details she included lead into one another and kept a constant flow. Take for example these few sentences, “In the past, the Bible has been used to justify slavery, segregation, and even denying women the right to vote. As the daughter of a minister, all of this seems strange to me. Like my father, I would like to think that religion is better suited to promoting love—not hate.” (Savory). The detail of how in the past people have used religion to justify their hate leads right into her talking about being a preacher’s daughter. Another effective point in Savory’s writing is the constant use of symbols. Such as the light vs. dark symbol that is so important it is even the title of the story. In this case the symbol of the light being acceptance and the dark being any form of hate. For example, “The way I saw it, if I turned off the spotlight, no one would be able to see the real me. In the darkness, it was easier to hide.” (Savory). But another constant symbol is that of her linking the way African Americans were treated and how homosexuals were treated. She links her experience of what happened with the civil rights movement and what
What the Bible says about homosexuality does not represent everything God wants to say to homosexual people’. a sign of current and forthcoming wrath.’ Once again, this negative view of homosexuality as rejecting God’s plan for humanity recalls Genesis and ‘the Fall’ which distorted God Allberry illustrates how homosexuality is completely unnatural in the Christian Church through Paul’s letter to the Romans. Although Paul only speaks to the Gentiles, his words encompass all sinners today. Since they rejected the knowledge of God, exchanging “natural” relations for “unnatural” ones, ‘God gave them over to shameful lusts’ (Romans 1:26).
While facing certain struggles as both Alison and her father try to embrace their sexuality, Alison is able to “come out” to her family at the age of 19 unlike her father who’s homosexuality remains a secret for most of Alison’s life. When Alison tells her mother that she is gay she is able to do so with a sense of a mostly a supportive community. Therefore, it is Alison’s own “coming out” that provokes her mother to reveal her father’s hidden
We have all at some point or another heard someone say that God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. This saying is an excellent example of how a large number of Christian fundamentalist feel about the homosexual community. Studies have shown that there are more Christian homophobes than there is homophobia in any other group or religion in the United States (Wolff, J. R., Himes, H. L., Kwon, E., & Bollinger, R. A., 2012). Homophobia is the irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. In Christianity, homophobia represents misunderstanding and fear of the unknown.
In the text above, I have explained how religion is used to persecute LGBT persons, how personal views can differ from religious opinions, and how the LGBT community and a religious society could coexist. LGBT people have appeared in recorded history for ages, and long before the dawning of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In the past, these societies had roles for LGBT persons that allowed acceptance, and in our global society where Abrahamic religions are widely influential, we can draw back on our ancient histories to create a environment where LGBT persons are accepted while continuing to have a religious and spiritual society.
If I meet the wrong person or being forced to do something, I should reject and leave immediately. This movie brings a lot of thinking about sexuality, sexual orientation and gender issues, and it does influence audiences in many different
Not only does this movie deal with the issues of society, but it points to biblical scriptures that help lead us in the right direction. The biggest lesson that this film taught me was that if I put my complete faith in God, then no matter what happens, he will provide, watch over, and take care of me. I learned that expressing belief in God is not enough. I have to live everyday believing and trusting him and I have to show my trust and faith through my actions and my words.