Our Laguna:

“For The Bible Tells Me So” has been seen in venues around the world since it was selected for the 2007 Sundance Fill Festival, but in a way, it came home Saturday night.

Film executive producers Karen Ellis and Sandra Harkness welcomed the audience to the screening at the Neighborhood Congregational church of the award-winning documentary that explored the experiences of devout Christians caught between religious teachings and their sexual orientation and how it affected their families.

“This is our home town, and it brings tears to our eyes,” Harkness said.

The presentation was the first public screening of the film in Laguna Beach.

“We tried to get into the Edwards Theater here, but we couldn’t,” Ellis said.

The audience’s response was heartwarming.

“I got an e-mail the next day [after the show] from a teacher from another town,” Harkness said. “She said the film had changed her perspective.”

One man, who donated $1,000 toward the production of the film, said his father had been saying unkind things about the gay lifestyle until he gave his parents a copy of the film, which they watched together, Harkness said.

“His father said, I am NOT like those people.”

He had been unaware of the effect of his harsh words.

“I had been told this was a remarkable film, and I am glad I went,” City Clerk Martha Anderson said. “I think it gave a very thorough look at the issue.”

According to Ellis, the film has generated little controversy. Some opponents of the movie’s point of view were filmed, but when it came down to the final cuts, they declined to sign releases, Ellis said.

The thrust of “For The Bible Tells Me So” is to combat literalists, who take as gospel the lines written about sexual conduct between the same sex, but skip over other commands — such as stoning to death adulterers or giving all of one’s money to the poor. And how about “love one another?”

“Literalists pick and choose,” Ellis said. “But the movie points out that the Bible was written centuries ago and, as Bishop Desmond Tutu said, was written in the idiom of the time.”