The Truth Will Set You Free

Carved into the floor of Canterbury Cathedral and written into the Gospel of John are the words of Jesus: "The truth will set you free."

Currently in the Anglican Communion, a church body of 80 million globally led by approximately 800 bishops, there is one openly gay bishop.  In fact, according to church history, Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire, is the only openly gay bishop ever to be consecrated since the time of Christ.  The Anglican Communion, like the Catholic Church from which it emerged, believes that its bishops are the direct spiritual descendents of the twelve disciples of Christ.  In 2003, the Episcopal Church in America, an arm of the Anglican Communion, made history when it installed Gene Robinson as Bishop.  Gene wore a bulletproof vest to his installation and, every day since, the local police have driven by his rural New Hampshire home to provide him and his loved ones protection in the face of a steady stream of death threats.

Walking alongside the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, The Truth Will Set You Free follows the Anglican Communion in arguably its most historic chapter since Henry VIII broke from the Roman Catholic Church for the right to divorce in 1538.  From Gene's civil union in New Hampshire last June, to the once-every-ten-years global bishops' gathering in Canterbury last summer, to the current fracture within the Church that's inching towards total schism, to next summer's biennial gathering of the Episcopal Church of America, at which the American Church will vote either to stand up for justice or down from the gay issue, The Truth Will Set You Free documents from the intimate inside what progressives are calling "the end of Patriarchy" and conservatives "the coming of Satan."

The Truth Will Set You Free is not just a film about Gene Robinson and the Church.  It's about civil rights.  Laws all over the world make gay sex, gay marriage, gay equality and even gay identity illegal.  When the sodomy laws in the United States were upheld by the Supreme Court in 1986 in the landmark Bowers v. Hardwick case, the majority opinion stated that the judges could not overturn 2000 years of moral teaching (read: church teaching).  When, on June 7, 2003, the Episcopal Church installed Gene Robinson and, in effect, did just that, the Supreme Court struck down the sodomy laws shortly thereafter.  What happens on Sunday morning has deep impact on how people around the globe are treated the rest of the week.

Facing the real possibility of death, but committed to the fullest and richest life possible, Gene Robinson and the movement gathering around him have an extraordinary path ahead, certain to shape their lives and ours.  The Truth Will Set You Free will follow them every step of the way.