Depending upon whether you're Pat Robertson or Hugh Heffner, you can quote the Bible to support pretty much everything your crackpot mind is set to believe. In fact, the Bible is a multifaceted document open to as many various and sundry interpretations as our Constitution. But whereas our Constitution has the Supreme Court as its ultimate arbiter, the Bible is up for grabs by every Jew and Christian on the planet -- no matter whether you side with the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, or Rabbi Hillel the Elder.

Matt Terrell's polished drop-in monologue, nicely interlaced with a woman reading passages from the Bible, flies in the face of Fundamentalists whose loathing for homosexuality may be traced to one particularly virulent anti-gay passage, Lev. 20.13. Placing this passage in historical context, Terrell argues that Leviticus was concerned with a "holiness code" written to protect ancient Hebrews from what they considered uncleanly, disease-ridden acts practiced by homosexuals at the time. Little were the Old Testament patriarchs aware of STDs transmitted by heterosexuals!

With characteristic SCAD irreverence, Terrell goes on to discredit New Testament Paul's troglodyte -- or, to switch religions, Taliban -- attitudes about women. The same Paul who wrote with such transcendent wisdom and power about charity in 1 Cor. 13, wrote, "Let women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence" (1 Tim. 2.11-12)!

Happily, Terrell ends on a positive note. Sure, we should take the Bible with a grain of salt. On the other hand, if the pinnacle of Christian ideals consists of Jesus's new commandment, "Love one another," according to Terrell, churches should "open up their doors to gays, lesbians and straights alike."

I say hallelujah, Matt!