Bible schooling

One of Sandra Hartness' favorite scenes in "For the Bible Tells Me So" is when a Protestant minister says, "There's nothing wrong with a fifth-grade understanding of God, as long as you're in the fifth grade."

It's a powerful moment in a documentary hoping to sway an emotionally charged debate that continues to divide Christianity – and the nation. Is homosexuality a sin to be condemned or an acceptable lifestyle whose time has come to be embraced?

"When you look at all the other 'abominations' (in the Bible), we see all those other things we no longer believe in, but somehow we picked out this one little thing and said, 'Above all, that's the worst thing we can do,'" says Hartness, an Orange County resident who, with her partner, Karen Ellis, were co-executive producers of the film, which is coming soon to San Diego.

The abominations Hartness is referring to are repeatedly found in Leviticus, an Old Testament book of laws and condemnations written nearly 3,500 years ago. As for homosexuality, Leviticus 18:22 says this: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."

But "For the Bible Tells Me So" points out that Leviticus also instructs followers not to mix their fabrics (there goes your Vera Wang clothes) or touch the skin of pig (football, anyone?).

The documentary comes down squarely on the side of not taking the Bible literally, but rather rethinking religious teachings within the context of the culture, language and history.

As retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu puts it in the film: "The Bible is the word of God through the word of human beings, speaking in the idiom of their time. And the richness of the Bible comes from the fact that we don't take it as literally so that it was dictated by God." Bible schooling
San Diego Union Tribune, United States