Joshua Green ‘22
Major: Film
Faculty Mentor: Mr. Paul Bernstein, Associate Professor of Theater
Abstract
With our ever-evolving society people will often say that coming out as gay is no big deal, but does the same hold true in all avenues of life? My documentary in-progress, “Sins between Scriptures,” is about attitudes toward homosexuality in the modern Christian church. The documentary will consist of multiple sets of interviews for documentary filming. I will be interviewing members of the clergy and lay people to better understand their different perspectives on homosexuals and their place in the American church. What does it mean for the church to become a place of worship for all people? Who gets to decide? To provide an important historical point of view, my interviews will also reach out to educators who have studied Christianity and its long-standing relationship to homosexual behaviors.
Turning an eye to the future, I will include insights from youth groups to discover how newer generations of Christians react to personal and sexual preferences that were previously shunned. Finally, I will interview people who can offer firsthand accounts of views of the emotional struggles encountered by gay men and woman in the church. Each of these many fragments of information must be integrated into one, objective, thirty-minute documentary film.
I intend to provide a multi-faceted view of how some churches and families treat people who have decided to come out. Many homosexuals have maintained their faith and relationship to the church, and some have walked away due to pressure from within religious environments and domestic situations alike. Though awkwardly, we have come a long way, but where does this progress lead us in the future? What obstacles remain ahead? I believe that I can utilize the resources around me to shed important light on this subject, by offering a valuable lens for others to look through.