As seen at the 2007 San Diego Film Festival:
America is in a state
of emergency. Did you hear that folks? Yes, that’s right: America
is in a state of emergency! Just
look around you. What do you see? If the answer “the widespread
persecution of gay people” doesn’t spring instantly into your
mind, then you must be an Evangelical Christian. That’s right –
you’re an Evangelical Christian, aren’t you? You’re one of those
“chosen-ones” calling for a violent merge between Church and
State, right? In fact, you probably just got home from a routine
session of gay-bashing. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.
You know – where you stand around town and scream out “God hates
Fags!” and march around deviously with picket signs and you play
Focus on the Family leader Jerry Fallwell’s radio program in the
background? And not only that. You probably just discovered that
your son or daughter is gay and you have decided to begin
destroying their life over it. And you know what? I bet you live
in Texas and admire the “strong leadership” that President
George W. Bush exhibits over the United States.
That’s the image of
America that Daniel G. Karslake, director of the ridiculous
documentary For
the Bible Tells Me So, would like the viewer to believe. He
claims that the Christian Right is damaging America in
unspeakable ways, mainly due to its supposedly unrelenting
hatred for gays. Karslake asserts that this deep-seeded,
illogical malcontent is breaking up families by the boatload; he
seems to think that it is one of the defining political issues
present in the country right now. With For
the Bible Tells Me So, the filmmaker wants to convey a
message against this “unspeakable” social-oppression that the
majority of citizens seem to be blind to. Despite never
appearing on camera or speaking in the film via narration,
Karslake stresses through his subjects that those who believe in
equal-rights for homosexuals/bisexuals/transsexuals should stop
at nothing to get their message of “tolerance” across.
In response, I have a
message of my own for Mr. Karslake: get over yourself, buddy. For
the Bible Tells Me So deals
specifically with the emotional damage that homosexual children
are caused by Christian parents who do not accept their
lifestyle-choice. As I watched the film, I couldn’t help but
think of all of the truly oppressed minorities that Karslake
could’ve brought to light in a documentary instead: the innocent
victims of the genocide in Darfur, the millions of Iraqi
refugees displaced by insurgent Islamic terrorists, the Israelis
that were forced from their homes on the borders of the West
Bank of Gaza. Let’s get real here: homosexuals make up a very
small portion of the general population (let’s say one-tenth, to
be generous). Even less gays are shunned by their parents
because of their sexuality, genetic or not. Hardly any that
didn’t have emotional issues to begin with become suicidal
because of their parents’ aforementioned lack of acceptance
toward their sexuality. Why must Karslake pretend that this
issue is of such grave significance to America? Why must he act
as if most gays do not lead normal lives? Is the radical
homosexual agenda so strong that it will stop at nothing with
movies like For
the Bible Tells Me So to
establish its members as more prominent
and more attended
to in American Society than the average citizens?
Even if one were to
accept the central “moral of the story” found in For
the Bible Tells Me So—which basically breaks down to:
“feeling malcontent toward gays on strictly Biblical pretenses
is a convoluted, illogical, and dangerous line of thinking”—it
would still be a stretch for one to buy the rest of the film’s
assertions. Karslake’s subjects support an entirely ridiculous
vision for America, one in which gays are given
equal-representation as straight people and are federally
granted the right to marry. The political agenda of this picture
is so broad and far-reaching that it’s impossible to take
seriously. Nor should it be, as the so-called “Bible-thumpers”
who still believe in literally interpreting the Old Testament’s
view of the wrongness of homosexuality have every right to feel
this way under the pretense of their First Amendment Rights. For
the Bible Tells Me So is,
frankly, a piece of irresponsible journalism disguised as a
straightforward documentary. Is it childish and wrong to
discriminate against gays in today’s America? Yes, but viewers
don’t need this film to irresponsibly and manipulatively
force-feed this truth to them.