1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture is an upcoming documentary that will cover that the word “homosexual” was not supposed to be in the Bible. The documentary will cover the substantial impacts that the mistranslation had on different aspects of society. I have included the GoFundMe link below to donate and help with the production of the documentary.

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     I was able to sit down with Sharon ‘Rocky’ Roggio who is the producer/director of the documentary and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. The first topic that was discussed was Rocky’s childhood. Rocky explained that she was a preacher's kid so she grew up in the church and was introduced to religion at a very young age. Concurrent with her strong religious upbringing, Rocky “identified as being different or not heterosexual at a really early age.” When asked how her sexuality and religion impacted each other, she explained that “having the [1 Corinthians] verse used against you when you're not a murderer or a thief or anything close to any of the other scandals you see in that verse, obviously pushed me far away.” Rocky returned to the church a couple of years ago and through that experience, she explained that “it led [her] to really start to see a bigger problem. [She] started to really get vocal about it, because [she didn’t] think that homosexuality is a sin, and [has] the relational experience to back that up but [she] needed the theology.”

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     She started a quest to know more and she learned about research done by Kathy Baldock and Ed Oxford. This research shows that the word “homosexual” was incorrectly entered into the Bible. She explained that they “can show through these historic documents that there was a mistake and then trace the anti-gay movement, specifically in America, and the creation of anti-gay theology, and homosexuality entering for the first time in history in the late 70s as a moral issue.” Rocky explained that in addition to the mistranslation “the film we will also be examining other groups that the bible has been used as a weapon against them,” She hopes that the documentary will trickle into other social justice movements.

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     Through the process of creating the documentary Rocky explained that it has “given me more hope for Christianity. The narrative of what Christians have thought about gay people is what gay people have thought about Christians” when in reality “I think that there are very few Christians just like there are very few gay people who fall into a narrative and a stereotype. Rocky explained that “the mistranslation is a talking point and a tangible point in history where we can take these historical documents and create change through conversation, to get us to then evaluate the entire picture.” She reminded me that “It's not us versus them, it's not we're right, you're wrong. It's some evidence that shows that this is a possible mistranslation, what else could have been a mistranslation, what else are we missing that is preventing us from getting this full level of inclusion and acceptance which is what we believe the gospels are portraying.” After the interview with Rocky, I believe that the documentary will be incredibly powerful and moving. Religion should ultimately unify people, and hopefully, this documentary will bring people closer together.