Ok, here's the deal. I grew up in a rabidly fundamentalist church background (only recently left it in my early twenties) so I'm very familiar with the fundamental/literalist Christian view on homosexuality. I grew up hearing pastors preach on homosexuality and I had it drilled into my head what a sin homosexuality is, so I have a strong background of knowledge about this topic and what many churches say about it. Given these facts and this background,
I never even considered that there was another way to look at any of the passages of the bible that address homosexuality, specifically passages such as Genesis chapter 19 (where God destroys the cities Sodom and Gomorrah), Leviticus chapter 18 verse 22, and Romans chapter 1 verses 21-27. Because I grew up with the notion that the bible was inerrant and infallible and that questioning the bible was equivalent to questioning God Himself and was therefore a sin, the idea that I could interpret these verses or even dare to discuss whether they may say something totally different from the widely accepted interpretations taught by my churches seemed like dangerous heresy to me.

It may seem that this view is extreme (because, well, it IS) but I assure you, it's a view that is prevalent throughout a great many churches, and even people who don't go to church and who may have never read the bible, when asked, will say that the bible condemns homosexuality and many of them can even name the verses that I've listed above. Trust me, I've experimented with this. While the "homosexuality is an evil sin" view may be extreme, it is by no means a rare view. Knowing this rabidly fundamentalist Christian view of homosexuality, and given how many people espouse this view, a movie that attempts to explore the biblical passages that appear to address homosexuality and asks whether these verses can possibly be interpreted differently is a movie that I, for one, was eager to see (it doesn't hurt that the movie frames its in-depth discussions with stories of Christian families that have gay and lesbian children).

The personal stories do a great deal to keep the documentary from seeming boring or irrelevant. Trust me, if you're thinking "I don't believe in God or give a shit what the bible says about just about anything, so I don't need to see this movie," you're doing yourself a disservice, because not only are the personal stories dramatic and moving, even if you don't care what the bible says, the fact that so many people do (and not only CARE about the bible but think it's their god-given duty to try to convince YOU into believing their interpretation of the bible too) the segments of the movie will give you some good ammo to fire back at people if the issue ever comes up.

I've heard people complain that this movie is "one sided" and I disagree. First of all, the movie does present the fundamentalist view that homosexuality is a sin, and even though some of the preachers who preach against homosexuality in the clips are yelling crazily, many of them are quite calmly only stating what they believe. Secondly, even though the clips that present the "Homosexuality is a sin" view DO make up less of the movie than the segments that attempt to refute this claim, the view that homosexuality is a sin is so prevalent and has been preached so heavily throughout society that I don't think the film is remiss in taking more time to calmly explain why the bible verses used to support this claim may not be saying this at all. I for one have never heard the verses outlined in this movie interpreted in any other way, I've only ever heard that the verses clearly say that homosexuality is a sin.

It may sound strange to hear me saying that I never considered that the verses might mean something entirely different from the accepted view. Indeed, readers might be thinking "If YOU read the verses and YOU thought they said homosexuality was a sin, either you have really bad reading comprehension or that's what the verses are actually saying." To understand, you really have to remember that I grew up thinking I wasn't allowed to THINK about the verses or try to interpret them. It's not that I didn't notice problems with my church's view on things or that I didn't sense that the bible was often being poetic or that it was really contradictory and stupid to say SOME verses needed to be taken in a cultural context, therefore when the bible says that eating shrimp is an abomination, it's simply cultural, but then to turn around and say that you can't apply the same standard of context and culture to argue that homosexuality isn't an abomination either... I noticed these problems.

I noticed, but I was afraid to say anything, because any time I expressed doubts about what the church taught I was told that I was doubting and straying and mocking God, and I had verses thrust upon me that said that those who doubted and strayed and mocked God were going to hell. Sure looking back it's stupid now, but the experience itself was horrific enough to keep me from wanting to go back and re-examine the bible and see if it might be saying something completely different from what I was taught. Now, for me, this movie gives me space to examine these issues, and even for people who didn't grow up immersed in the fundamentalist view like I did, the movie gives a fascinating examination of how our society got to this point and some ideas of how to move away from the mess that biblical literalism has gotten us into. After all, if even those who claim not to believe in the bible are holding onto archaic notions about sin because of something they believe that the bible says, can we afford not to educate ourselves?

Whether you just want to educate yourself, you have a personal stake in exploring this issue like I did, or you just want to watch a moving documentary about an issue that divides our country more than we may realize, this movie is for you. Well worth watching, discussing, and debating. I love movies that make me think. If you do, too, you should watch this movie.

• To learn more about "For the Bible Tells Me So," visit the official website.

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