Fundamentalist Christians and Homosexuality
The viewpoint of the fundamentalist Christians concerning homosexuality is that it is a sin and an abomination to mankind. Several fundamental Christians such as Mary Lou Wallner and Reitans openly reject their children who declare themselves as homosexuals.
Wallner rejects her daughter while the Reitans gang up with the Minnesota community to through a brick at Jake for declaring that he is gay. Besides, the Missouri congressman is at cross road whether to support his gay daughter or reject her despite her assistance towards his presidential campaign.
In addition, Gene Robinson who doubles up as a gay bishop has to live with rejection from his parents who are part of the conservative Episcopal Bethany Church. The many young religious persons who are gay have a difficulty of balancing the relationship with their families and their sexuality. Same as the views of the fundamentalist Christians, the book of Leviticus 18:22 in the Bible condemns homosexuality in totality as detestable before God.
Opposing Views on Homosexuality
The homosexual sympathizers, the homosexuals, and several experts offer an opposing viewpoint concerning the Bible and homosexuality. The first argument is that only one or two verses in the entire Bible mention homosexuality and it is barely a topic in the holy book.
In the views of Rev. Dr. Keene, biblical literalism can be blamed for demonizing homosexuality since the manuscripts of the good book can only be traced to the 20th century. The other proponents of homosexuality argue that most fundamental Christians are hypocrites who have discarded all the other topics in the tome of Leviticus apart from the one or two verses on homosexuality. Thus, selective amnesia only promotes literalism instead of ‘contextualism’.
Consequences of declaring homosexuality as an abomination
The consequences of socially constructing homosexuals and homosexuality as an abomination according to the film “The Bible Tells Me So” are destroyed family relationships and discrimination of the homosexuals by the society. The film indicates that several gay persons and their families have to live with the prejudice by the society for condoning what is considered immoral and against the good book.
The relations among the family members may also be strained since no one would want to accept or associate with homosexuals as members of their family. On the other hand, constructing homosexuality as an abomination may open the door for abuse of gay rights by their opponents.
The abuse may be in the form of discrimination from participating in social events, church activities and free interaction. In fact, the society may internalize the selective amnesia approach when relating to the homosexuals irrespective of their feelings and freedom of choice.
The perspective of the film of homosexuality
Reflectively, the film “The Bible Tells Me So” seems to suggest that homosexuality is based out of choice. Despite knowing about it in the early years, most the homosexuals are afraid to declare their sexuality to the society due to fear. For instance, Jake and the other homosexuals in the film are afraid of the perception of the society towards their choice of sexuality.
I support the view that homosexuality is based on personal choice. I don’t believe that somebody can be born gay. As an individual grows up, several external factors in the environment may influence his or her views on sexual direction. For instance, very close and prolonged attachment to a member of the same sex may eventually lead to development of sexual feelings for that person.