Saints

The Movie Milk will be discussed by John Pentland in the final Reel Theology session of 2009 on April 5.

This movie raises important questions for anyone involved in social justice work, particularly from a faith-based perspective. A significant presence in the drama, although not one of the major characters, is Anita Bryant. For a generation, Anita Bryant personified the type of Christianity that promoted intolerance and exclusion. On the basis of her message and others like it, many people have decided that Christianity is not for them. (Indeed, many people have reasonably concluded that Christianity is against them.)

An important question Christians ask is: “How can we move forward guided by a vision of social justice without rejecting a tradition that has been so hurtful to so many?” Must we reject all of our tradition? What about the true saints who went before us, and still inspire us - must we reject them, too?

Of course, there are and have always been currents of Christianity that are based on a message of welcoming and inclusion. A single example is Cecil Williams, who from 1963 to 2000 was the minister of Glide Memorial Methodist Church in San Francisco. Rev. Williams is an African American who made his church the largest social service provider in the city. He is quoted as saying “I went to every bar and flop joint I could and said ‘I’m asking you to give yourself the opportunity to see why you belong on Earth’, nobody else ever said that to them, ‘you belong here’.”

This brings us to Harvey Milk himself. In a secular context, he is described as a martyr and a saint, and from his work and its effects we can learn a great deal about saints. One striking thing about him is that he was a flawed human being, drawn to other flawed human beings. He was driven by a host of personal demons. He recognized that there were also many demons driving his eventual murderer, Dan White.

And yet, he brought an important blend of generosity, coalition-building and humour to both civic politics and the gay rights movement. He did this without losing a sharp personal vision, which included more of the “little people” than the “bigwigs”. He gave to his community crucial enthusiasm, hope and extraordinary courage. He lived with the consciousness of literally giving his life to a cause.

The life of an individual, a community or an institution is going to be mixed when viewed up close. It will contain things we agree with and things we cannot agree with. The Gospels tell us that we are all accountable for the harm we do as individuals, and the Prophets tell us that we are similarly accountable as nations. Knowing that, we can choose to celebrate the life-giving works of others and ourselves, looking to such works for inspiration. Where harm is done, we can do our best to learn how to bind up the wounds, as the Samaritan did on the road to Jericho.

Milk is currently showing at the Uptown Theater, check for times. The DVD will be available March 10. The image above is St. Sebastian, by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi.