Practically everybody pronounces the name of Bill Maher’s 2007 movie as if it were spelled r-e-l-i-j-i-l-o-u-s. They’re missing the point. If you pronounce Religulous the way it’s spelled, you realize that it’s a combination of religious and ridiculous.
Maher tries very hard to prove how ridiculous some religious beliefs are by questioning people of faith on their beliefs. But his obvious bias stacks the deck against them. Even worse, there is just too much Bill Maher bloviating about his skepticism and not enough substantive proof to back up his opinions. Maher is more amused by his own smug wit than I was, even though I’m prone to agree with him.A similar stacking of the deck against the religious is Stanley Kramer’s Inherit the Wind (1960), based on the 1925 Scopes monkey trial about the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools. The cynics—portrayed by Spencer Tracy, as an incarnation of the real Clarence Darrow (below far left), and Gene Kelly, the iconoclast H.L. Mencken—have the best lines.
When he's asked what he considers holy, Tracy replies: “The individual human mind. In a child’s ability to master the multiplication table, there is more holiness than all your shouted hosannas and holy holies. An idea is more important than a monument and the advancement of man’s knowledge more miraculous than all the sticks turned to snakes and the parting of the waters.”
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These zealots, including Fredric March (channeling William Jennings Bryant. left) and Claude Akins (as a fictional man of the cloth), are so bigoted, unfair, unfeeling, and, in the case of the March character, so senile that you can’t help rooting against them.
March’s “best” line is this feeble joke: “Do you hear that, friends? Old World monkeys! According to Bertram Cates, we don't even descend from good American monkeys!”
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Kelly says of him: “He's the only man I know who can strut sitting down.” And “how do you write an obituary about a man who's been dead for thirty years?”Only at the very end does the Bryant character get his due: “A giant once lived in that body. But [he] got lost. Because he was looking for God too high up and too far away.”
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In the documentary For the Bible Tells Me So, director/co-author Daniel G. Karslake lets the gay-bashing fundamentalists speak for themselves. Or should I say, instead, “fulminate”? Their hatred of homosexuality knows no bounds—same-sex marriage is even compared to the Holocaust. People like James Dobson (Focus on the Family) and Jimmy Swaggart, not to mention Miss Day Without Sunshine herself (Anita Bryant, who you'll no doubt remember from Milk, 2008), invariably quote Leviticus 18:22 ("You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination."). As is pointed out several times in the film, they ignore all the other abominations in Leviticus, like cutting your hair, eating shellfish and pork, wearing material woven of two kinds of material, not to mention Jesus’s call to give away all you own to the poor, not to commit adultery (or even lust in your heart) or divorce.
They also cite Paul’s epistle to the Romans: “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature; and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.” (1:26-27)
But they ignore his first letter to the Corinthians: “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.... So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (13:4-7, 13)
Nor do they pay any attention to Jesus’s observation, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matt. 25:45)
And devout Christians that they are, they never cite Jesus’s golden rule: “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them….” (Matt, 7:12)
They are, to put it bluntly, what I call "lip-service Christians."
Why do Christian fundamentalists hate gays? It can’t be because the Bible tells them so, when they ignore so many other things that the Bible tells them. The Bible is simply a way of justifying their behavior, which comes not from the Good Book, but from their own fear.
Researchers at the University of Georgia conducted an experiment involving 35 homophobic men and 29 non-homophobic men. All described themselves as exclusively heterosexual both in terms of sexual arousal and experience. When shown videos of heterosexual or lesbian sex, both groups were aroused. But when shown videos of gay sex, only the homophobic men had erections.
One possible conclusion is that homophobia is a way of denying their own homosexual tendencies. How can they possibly be gay when they hate gays so much?
As the authors note, "anxiety has been shown to enhance arousal and erection," so it is also possible that "a response to homosexual stimuli in these men is a function of the threat condition rather than sexual arousal per se."
Either way, their homophobia has nothing to do with the Bible.
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For the Bible Tells Me So gives equal consideration to those who have struggled with their own homosexuality or those of a loved one. Some are famous, like Gene Robinson, the first openly gay man ordained as an Episcopal bishop. The daughter of former Senator Dick Gephardt remained a beloved member of her family after she came out (shown on the DVD cover).Not so lucky was the 19-year-old woman whose rejection by her religious mother ended in her suicide. As a result, although not immediately, the mother became a gay activist.
These stories, and many others, are inspiring, heart-breaking, provocative and empowering.
For The Bible Tells Me So will be shown at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, 2125 Chestnut Street, during Philly Pride week. Each showing can only accommodate 40 people, Admission is free.
Friday, June 5th at 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm
Saturday, June 6th at 1:00 pm, 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm
Sunday, June 7th at 1:00 pm
You can watch the movie trailer here.
Comments
The Bible is clear: From Genesis to Revelation, sexual relations are reserved for marriage and marriage is reserved for male and female.
Ah, yes, the shellfish argument. It is true that we don't follow Jewish purity laws. But we do follow the non-purity laws such as proscriptions against murder and adultery (or you advocating for these?). Where does homosexuality fall? It was not a purity code violation that one could cleanse with the sacrifice of a dove.
I think that we can all see, especially after the release of the most recent statistics, that "inclusivity" which is a spin word for homosexual clergy and same sex union blessings is a death sentence for those denominations. The denominations that have embraced homosexuality are rapidly disappearing.
Does Gene Robinson care? He called for his followers to risk the institution of the church to advance the cause of homosexuals. Someone who is a homosexualist first and Christian second is no Christian.
The only thing that Gene Robinson has going for him is his homosexuality. The bishops of Vermont, Maine, Minnesota, etc., share the same liberal take and oversee rapidly declining dioceses, but these others aren't homosexual. Are they invited to the inauguration or sell bestselling books? Can you name any of them?
Laura Schlessinger, a US radio personality, found homosexuality an abomination. A listener responded:
Dear Dr. Laura Schlessinger,
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's law. I have learned a great deal from you and your radio show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can.
When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev. 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as it suggests in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
Lev. 25:44 states that I may buy slaves from the nations that are around us. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he shall be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?
Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 10:14)
I'd also like to ask about where and when we should stone the usurers (bankers), which is also in Leviticus.
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
I think you're misusing the term "cynic," at least as applied to Darrow. Skepticism is not the same as cynicism and, given the latter word's negative connotations, it's important not to confuse them.
That Georgia study sounds intriguing.
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