News, Reviews & Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media

"For the Bible Tells Me So" opens today


This week I had a chance to check out the new documentary For the Bible Tells Me So, which tells the stories of five Christian families at various stages of reconciling their faith with their having gay children (yes, that's the Gephardts in the poster!) and presents a fascinating discussion about what the Bible really says about homosexuality (from a wealth of resources going all the way up to Archbishop Desmond Tutu).

We'll have a full review of the film and a brand-spanking new interview with director Daniel Karslake up next week. But in the meantime I encourage you to see the film this weekend if it's playing in your area (cities listed after the break). Here's a teaser of our chat with Karslake to hopefully nudge you along...

AfterElton.com: A documentary about the Bible is not exactly the sexiest, most marquee-ready thing...
Daniel Karslake:
NO? What do you mean?! (laughs)

AE: But the film is so inspiring and has so much to say ... how would you encourage people to check it out?
DK:
I would just say that this is a film that really tries to take the whole conversation to a new level, and to restart the conversation. And it's really a film aimed at this "movable middle" in America that mostly lives in the Red States who are meeting a gay or lesbian person for the first time in their world, either in their church or in their school or their family or their workplace, and they're confused because this gay person they've met, the first one that they've ever known, isn't this dark, after-your-children kind of person that Jerry Falwell always talked about. "He's a nice guy and when I was sick he actually called me to make sure I was okay! Huh!? But, eh ... the Bible condemns them."

I really wanted to make a film for those people in particular and for gay and lesbian people who have those people in their lives, that they could take to the film or give the DVD, so that people can understand that it's not either your faith or your sexuality ... it's not either your faith or your child, or your brother or your sister or your cousin or your nephew. They're not mutually exclusive AT ALL.

You know, I don't really know how to "sexy it up", because ... it is a doc. It is a doc that I think really does profoundly affect a lot of people, miraculously. I hear that a lot and, as a filmmaker, that's like the best thing you can hear. So I guess the sexiest thing is, if you want to be moved and informed and armed to face those on the right, see the movie so that you can emerge stronger and more able to have that discussion.

 

Cities playing For the Bible Tells Me So as of today:

New York City, NY
Irvine, CA
Springfield, MO
Los Angeles, CA
Palm Springs, CA
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berkeley, CA
Minneapolis, MN
Philadelphia, PA
Cambridge, MA
Provincetown, MA
Lake Worth, FL

The film opens in 13 more cities next Friday and is also playing a host of film festivals. Be sure to check out the website for detailed information.

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  • 70x7book's picture

    Sexuality and Spirituality Not Mutually Exclusive

    Thanks for spreading the word about this important documentary and to Daniel for making it.   This is a topic that is close to my heart.  On my book tour earlier this year, I had the privilege of meeting gay Christians from all over the country who've found comfort in my book, and I know this film will also be a big help in bridging the gap. 

    Salvatore Sapienza, author of Seventy Times Seven

    www.70x7book.com

     

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    JBE's picture

    I am agnostic

    so I am commenting at my peril here, but why does the christian religion (or Islam with the Koran) take the Bible so literally?  I read a book by a Canadian named Stephen Harpur a few years ago called "The Pagan Christ" in which he speculates that the stories in the Bible were never meant to be taken literally but as myths that were supposed to guide peoples behaviour at that time.  Thousands of years ago (when the Bible was written) people were told myths to guide them in their everyday living, they looked at these myths as metaphors for deeper truths about life and people, but they did not take them literally.  But now in our more materialistic and scientific age myths are pooh-poohed, if something is not "real" then it loses value.  Therefore, we have bizarre situations where myths are touted as objective reality (fundamentalists trying to match up Genesis with intelligent design) and scientific proofs as myths (disbelief of evolution).

    As long as we have people reading the Bible literally and applying it to today's reality and not a myth that was meant to instruct people 3,000 years ago, we will have prejudice against gays.

    Cheers

    JBE

    brian's picture

    this film actually addresses that question...

    One of the theologians interviewed suggests that literalism in respect to the Bible is a 20th-century invention and one that has been promoted by the Evangelical movement more than anyone else. Many Christian denominations are far more progressive (one of the main stories in the film is of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Anglican bishop) but the Evangelicals have been very savvy and aggressive in the media and have managed to paint a very intolerant picture of Christians, one that isn't reflected much of the time.

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