by Amanda Read | May 19th, 2009
Carrie Prejean. Photo credit: Steven Weyda, www.misscaliforniausa.com
Oddly enough, the most famous Miss USA contestant this year did not actually win the Miss USA crown. The name of the reigning Miss USA has slipped my mind, but the first runner-up, Miss California Carrie Prejean, has in some ways already been bestowed with a reigning platform: traditional marriage and Biblical correctness.
During the question round of the competition, judge Perez Hilton (who happens to be a homosexual man) asked her a controversial question regarding same-sex marriage. As the reigning Miss California, in her response she dutifully represented her State, the citizens of which demanded the marriage-protecting Proposition 8 through popular vote. Furthermore, she was asked for her opinion on the subject, and she gave it. The pivotal scene and an interview with Carrie Prejean afterward can be seen here. She explains the inner conflict she felt when presented with the question – which she believes was a test from GOD:
“At that moment, I was getting ready to answer my question, and I started saying I think that Americans, you know, we have the right to choose, but then something inside of me said, ‘Carrie, stand up for what you believe in and say what you feel and represent the majority of California. You’re Miss California! The majority of voters believe that a marriage is between a man and a woman.’”
She also went on to say that she didn’t want to be politically correct, but Biblically correct.
Supposedly, beauty pageant contestants are not judged for the opinions they give when answering during the question round of the competition. I remember a similar supposition when I prepared to take the ACT Writing Test, which asked questions that reminded me of Miss-America-type queries (by the way, I failed that test – basically because I responded that the question I was asked shouldn’t be an issue). For Miss California to be so close to victory, it appears that the one thing that incited at least one judge to lower her score enough to miss it was her answer to the question about gay marriage. Why on earth a homosexual man was on the judging panel for the Miss USA competition is beyond me, but the entire scenario has brought the issue into a spotlight for heated debate.
One thing that people need to understand is that the debate has been incorrectly defined. Gay marriage is not a civil rights issue. Properly speaking, you might call it an “uncivil” rights issue. It is not dealing with prejudice and discrimination against people due to naturally occurring superficial differences such as ethnicity. Rather, it is dealing with unnatural choices that a tiny minority of people chooses to impose upon society – choices that the majority of the world population – probably down to the most primitive tribes imaginable – considers to be wrong. Nevertheless, any of us who refuse to accept such nonsense are called bigots…or, in the case of Miss California, berated with far worse language.
Imagine that a group of fifteen children are playing a game and two children enter the room demanding the game rules be changed to accommodate them because they have a different standard and insist they can’t do anything to change themselves. If the fifteen players refuse because they view the two others to be wrong, and those two then repeatedly harass them about it, who are the real bigots – the stable majority or the quirky minority?
This is what mystifies me: if someone chooses to be a homosexual, they are already breaking traditional rules, so why do they even care for a pinnacle of traditional rule – marriage – to be open to them? Evidently, it is their attempt to normalize the abnormal, and make the insane appear sane. Just as many an elite analyst has attempted to prove that Jackson Pollack’s chaotic paint splashes have the delicate designs of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, all the while trying to make Mona Lisa’s smile out to be some sort of mysterious omen, and others have elevated the Big Bang to sacred history while laughing at the Bible, humanists that are obsessed with one thing or another devote their lives to making sense out of nonsense and nonsense out of sense.
Like all outspoken conservative Christians, Carrie Prejean was bound to experience public backlash. As Ann Coulter stated, “Take a Christian position in public and Satan’s handmaidens will turn all your secrets into front-page news”. Some of the dirt dug up by Miss Prejean’s opponents included scantily clad photographs that Prejean said were a requirement for a modeling resume and not intended for publication.
“I am a Christian, and I am a model,” Prejean said in a statement released overnight to the media. “Models pose for pictures, including lingerie and swimwear photos. Recently, photos taken of me as a teenager have been released surreptitiously to a tabloid Web site that openly mocks me for my Christian faith. I am not perfect, and I will never claim to be.”
A liberal woman questioned Carrie Prejean’s Christianity because she appeared in the Miss USA contest wearing a two-piece swimsuit (along with the other contestants, I might add). Interesting that a feminist never noticed immodesty before, isn’t it? This brings to mind a clever quote I discovered as a World Views student:
“When the world goes wrong, it proves rather that the Church is right. The Church
is justified, not because her children do not sin, but because they do.”
- G. K. Chesterton
That statement is not encouraging us to sin, but rather pointing out that, sadly, the Bible’s teaching on sin is the one thing that we Christians tend to be so good at proving! How humiliating! However, true Christians never claim to be without sin, but rather to be redeemed from the condemnation that our sinful selves deserve. We must repent to the best of our ability. As a Christian woman, modesty is an area that I personally would refuse to compromise on, as we can see from the mistakes of prominent women that immodesty can give the devil an opportunity to hinder your mission and turn things to his advantage – and giving the devil an opportunity is one thing we are admonished against (Ephesians 4:27).
Back to the ideological aspect of this debate, I found the following article excerpts to be an interesting take on the blindness that is apparent in women that have fallen for the misogyny of liberal feminism:
“Liberals wouldn’t attack James Dobson with the amount of bile they’ve directed at a 21-year-old beauty contestant. It’s not just Christianity — it’s women liberals hate…liberals are ferocious misogynists. They share Muslims’ opinion of women, differing only to the extent that liberals also support a woman’s right to have an abortion and to perform lap dances…
…You’d be better off in a real burqa than under the authority of a liberal American male…
…But what is crying out for an explanation is why every bubble-head TV news anchorette from a nice, churchgoing red state ends up adopting the political views of Karl Marx…The only way to protect yourself is to do the liberal male’s bidding, as the bubble-head anchorettes do, or stand on the rock of Christianity.
From Katie Couric on CBS to Norah O’Donnell on MSNBC, the whole stable of TV anchorettes weirdly have the exact same politics as their liberal masters. It’s the ideological burqa women are required to wear to work in the mainstream media. As with a conventional burqa, it enforces conformity and severely restricts the vision.
Now, another beautiful Christian has thrown off the liberal burqa, thereby inciting mass hysteria throughout the liberal establishment. Prejean doesn’t care. She is blazing across the sky, as impotent nose-pickers jockey for a piece of her reflected light by hurling insults at her.”
- Ann Coulter
We have missions to accomplish, and though none of us followers of CHRIST will be perfect in this fallen world through our own fleshly power, if we acknowledge the LORD in all our ways, HE shall direct our paths (Proverbs 3:6)!
NOTE: You can also find my slightly revised version of this article on The Cross-Eyed Blog and Webzine.
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UPDATE: As many interesting debates have sprung from this topic, I would like to clarify my intentions and positions in this article even more. The title of this article is “The Uncivil Rights Issue”, and that is what it is about. It begins with a news chronicle of an episode in recent history in which a young American woman of conservative political ideology (who happened to represent the State of California) upset the media by stating in the Miss USA 2009 competition that she believed that in her country and family that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. Her answer was not impressively polished, but on further examination it is interesting to note how candidly she explained the temptation she felt to appease the homosexual judge who asked the question, knowing that it would help her win the coveted crown of Miss USA. It is also worth mentioning that Carrie Prejean’s own sister holds the opposing liberal view of same-sex marriage, which is a reminder to me that we must be careful about judging people such as Carrie Prejean before we know fully the family circumstances they come from and thus what challenges they are facing in the matter. As inoffensive as Carrie Prejean’s answer was, it generated uncivil, vitriolic behavior from the disappointed judge and liberal media. It is apparent that this stems from the completely unreasonable and uncivil argument for same-sex marriage rights. I think this event was newsworthy in that it demonstrated how much seething hate there is towards any who espouse a conservative Christian value – even when the person is otherwise very worldly in appearance. It showed liberal feminists daring to attack in the name of modesty – something which they have no full understanding of. It is a memorable example of how compromising with sin can weaken and dull your witness and convictions (in this case, the act of dressing immodestly).
Carrie Prejean subsequently lost the crown of Miss California supposedly due to the mere charge that she did not making enough appearances or tending to “official duties”. I do not know Miss Prejean’s heart, but as far as I have seen and heard it seems to me that she is genuine in her convictions about marriage and believes in JESUS as her Savior. In that case, as a sister in Christ I hope and pray that her current retirement from the pageant industry will be a time in which the LORD reveals to her what has gone wrong in the pageant and modeling industries (as has happened in many industries) and how they can be redeemed if He wills it, and teaches her how she can be in the world but not of the world. The LORD has worked through people more shockingly flawed than Miss Prejean throughout the course of history, and I am certain there is a much better path available for her if she is willing to take it.
(Resize by changing the width/height numbers in the code after pasting it to your website).
Hello Amanda!
This is Christine Daae. We used to be friends on homeschool blogger. I’m afraid I didn’t realize until now that you had moved your blog! Sorry about that delay.
Thank you for that very interesting post. I had heard something about it, but not all the details. I was excited to read all about it.
In Christ,
Christine
My family and I watched her interview online and were refreshed to hear her stance and confidence. We were proud of her for getting her conservativeness out, showing that is was a big role in her life. And we noticed that the crowd’s cheers were much greater for her statement on “One man and one woman marriage” than on the judge’s “Gay marriage legalized”.
Have a Great Day!
I don’t see why people are treating this as a big deal. She simply said, this is how I was raised and this is what I believe. She pointed out that everyone is able to choose how they want to go about their relationships, she wasn’t chastising them. That was her opinion which she is entitled to. I’m glad she wasn’t going for politically correctness but what she believed biblically.
If an individual stood up their and said they believed it should be open to same-sex marriage (which would be their opinion that their entitled too) then anyone who gets upset against that statement would be made to look like the bad guy.
The values of this country aren’t been held as high as they once were or being given the respect they so greatly deserve (my opinion-which I’m entitled to).
Dear Amanda,
What an eloquent, thought-provoking and conscientious article! I wholeheartedly agree with your viewpoint and I appreciate your analyzation of this issue. God has blessed you with a very intelligent mind and I am grateful for your insight.
I apologize for my protracted absence from the blogworld. I hope you will stop by sometime and read my most recent post. God bless you!
By His Grace and For His Glory,
Mariel
Hmm, you take a rather…interesting angle on this.
The “world” taking a hard-nosed approach to Christianity’s flaws is not a bad thing. Rather, it should push us towards growing more in Christ every day. Obviously, no one is or can be perfect. However, I think that the unbelieving world pointing out obvious hypocrisy is actually a good thing. It keeps us honest and humble in our walk with Christ.
I find it interesting that you applaud Prejean for standing up for traditional marriage, and yet refuse to question the fact that her career as it stands now is in direct opposition to God. I don’t care if every other contestant wore a bikini, the “big deal” is that the self-proclaimed “Christian” contestant dressed like a prostitute. I expect women in the world to pull stunts like this, and I expect Christian women not to pull stunts like this.
Also, if, to get a job, you have to get pictures taken of yourself in lingerie, you’re in the wrong field. Period.
Maybe, instead of applauding Prejean for the one stand that she has taken, you should question the fact that her entire career is, like I said earlier, in direct opposition to God, and, in addition, only furthers the growing problem of viewing women as merely objects for sexual gratification.
Bottom line: Christians should be calling Prejean out for her blatant and unrepentant sin before they praise her for the one comment that she made.
I didn’t say that it was bad for the world to recognize sin. I just think the devil is very crafty in exploiting the sins (past or present) of Christians to negate any chance of them being used for righteousness. In that case, the media is just his mouthpiece.
“He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7)
JESUS did say to repent. We are not supposed to tolerate sin, but objectively noticing something positive come from a sinner is not tolerating their sin. The most I can say in my position is that I disapprove of skimpy modeling in commerce and pageants and pray that Miss Prejean comes to the same conclusion for her own good. But writing a ranting post telling her to repent would probably never affect her and only cause me to lose an opportunity to offer instead a worldview commentary on the uncivil rights issue of our day.
“Christians should be calling Prejean out for her blatant and unrepentant sin before they praise her for the one comment that she made.”
But Jeremy, if that is the way we respond to every sinner (including ourselves), we’re never going to get a chance to talk about anything of good report.
~Amanda~
Here’s the problem with your argument – there is a difference between “objectively noticing something positive come from a sinner” and calling a (at least, to all appearances) prostitute a “conservative Christian”.
There are plenty of much better role models that you could point to – for instance, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. Rewrite this entire article around Roy Moore’s stand for Biblical principles, and you have an amazing testimony of a strong Christian man who stood up for what he believed in, even when it cost him a high office, and an extremely good job.
The difference between this case and the case that you referenced in John is that the woman in question was, at least, from my interpretation of the passage, repentant. Carrie Prejean shows no repentance at the blatant and repulsive sin that her life entails.
Christians should call sin, sin, and call right, right.
“But Jeremy, if that is the way we respond to every sinner (including ourselves), we’re never going to get a chance to talk about anything of good report.”
Um, that’s pretty weak. Nobody is perfect, but there are many, many people who take stands greater than Prejean’s, and also have much more consistent Christian lives. This post is akin to the Catholic’s praising their priests for being against abortion when these same priests are in court for messing with young boys. Should we praise them? Uhhh, no.
Also, calling Prejean a “conservative Christian” is almost laughable. Last I checked, conservative Christians generally don’t pose in bikinis and add to the load of pornography that has already infiltrated nearly every level of American culture.
My family is actually personally acquainted with Judge Roy Moore, so I know all about that.
I wrote about him back when I was 13. I understand your point, but you must understand that I was not writing a blog post to herald Prejean as some role model – I was just reporting and commentating on the event and the issue that came up as a result of it. I didn’t realize that I practically need to write a disclaimer at the end of every blog post for people to understand that…
Think of it this way – you might say that compared to Roy Moore, Carrie Prejean barely took a stand against anything. But the world media acted almost just as outraged by it. That tiny shred of truth – that marriage should be between a man and a woman – coming from the mouth of a worldly-looking young woman – drove liberals nuts! That is newsworthy, in my opinion.
What I meant by “conservative Christian” is that as far as I know Prejean supports basic ideological values – in this culture, for a professing Christian to take a stand against gay marriage is significant, because there are so many watered down liberal Christians that are abandoning such values.
I have friends that, politically speaking, are very conservative Christians like myself. But they also wear bikinis, which I do not…in that case, you wouldn’t say they’re “conservative”, but I’m sure they do not want to be called “liberal Christians”. Yet if I focus on scolding them for wearing bikinis and speak of nothing positive they do until they start dressing like me, I don’t think I will gain much ground.
It’s quite ridiculous that modesty is even an issue at all. Really, if public nudity is against the law, it shouldn’t be rocket science to figure out how to clothe yourself properly. Modesty is something that should be lived out through example more so than taught – after all, fashion trends are started by people seeing how nice someone looks and saying, “Oh wow, I want to dress like her!”.
~Amanda~
I would point out that there is a difference between having a friend that dresses immodestly, and making a career out of dressing immodestly. With a friend who dresses immodestly on occasion, you are absolutely right in not focusing on scolding them. However, pointing out when someone’s entire life is being lived contrary to Biblical principles is not only a good thing, it is a command from God.
With comments like “A liberal woman questioned Carrie Prejean’s Christianity because she appeared in the Miss USA contest wearing a two-piece swimsuit (along with the other contestants, I might add).” and “Some of the dirt dug up by Miss Prejean’s opponents included scantily clad photographs that Prejean said were a requirement for a modeling resume and not intended for publication” seemed to be an attempt to overlook the blatant and obvious sin that her entire life centers around (which is why I commented in the first place).
I still find it extremely odd that Prejean takes a stand against gay marriage, when you could make a strong case that her life is an attempt (conscious or not) to tear down marriages through pornography. At least she did turn the Playboy job down last week.
Ah, I see what you mean. I don’t think pornography was what Prejean had intended – I think the whole idea behind modeling women’s undergarments is for other women to consider buying them, but I’m not going to excuse that because it’s really not necessary or good for girls to see such pictures even just to pick out clothes, and once they’re out there, there’s always a chance that guys can stumble across them (and I find it disturbing that the photographers taking those pictures are oftentimes men!).
It reminds me of when Bathsheba was taking a bath on the roof in full view of King David (even though money wasn’t involved, she was still doing it relatively in public). She might not have meant any harm, but I’ve always wondered what on earth she was thinking when she exposed herself like that (surely she knew some people might see her). Most likely she was preoccupied with herself and just wasn’t thinking about the consequences. Now that we have photography that can preserve such mistakes, women ought to be far more thoughtful. There is a market for tasteful clothing that models can promote, and if they’re going to model at all, they should promote things that are respectful to men and women rather than wasting their time on shameful things.
Hmm…maybe this topic deserves a whole new article.
Thanks for the comments!
~Amanda~
Great article, Amanda! Thank you for your honest and objective view. So many Christians ruthlessly criticize Carrie Prejean for past mistakes when we should embrace her for her strong Christ-like stand on important issues like marriage. I’ve seen angry and nasty comments on Prejean that sound more like secular media than Christian comments. It’s good to see a fellow Christian stand up for Carrie and congratulate her for her courage and politically incorrectness. It’s sad that her stand ultimately cost her the Miss CA crown.
Hi Amanda,
I linked to your article, How Shall We Then Dress, and came to check out some of your other articles here. I noticed this one about Miss Cal. and wanted to add another perspective. I wrote a post last month discussing this issue from a slightly different angle and thought I’d share it here.
Another thing that seems to go unnoticed is that Miss California, while sharing what she beleived for “her family,” also said to the judges:
“I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage …”
Then she went on to say what she PERSONALLY believed for her family. Who said she wasn’t politically correct?
Sorry, I wasn’t all that impressed.
And Leah, I for one, am not “ruthlessly criticizing” Carrie for “past mistakes.” But if she is going to claim Christ, representing the purity and holiness of our Lord, she needs to stop taking her clothes off for millions of people and then asking to be rewarded for it. And I’m not talking about the lingerie photos. Personally, I don’t see the difference between lingerie shots and what she does on the runway.
If you’re interested, here are a few more thoughts from my July post:
http://yoursacredcalling.blogspot.com/2009/07/contemplating-miss-california.html
Mrs. McDonald,
Thanks for linking my article on modesty!
I did see your article and appreciated your perspective (I commented on it too awhile back). The debate I had with Jeremy gave me some ideas for my article on modesty, as a matter of fact.
I’ll explain once again that my intention for writing this article, “The Uncivil Rights Issue”, was more so to point out the ridiculous debate for same-sex marriage than to point out Miss Prejean. I didn’t intend to hold Carrie Prejean up as a heroine or standard-bearer. I think her statements in this interview actually sounded more interesting than her controversial answer in the contest:
“At that moment, I was getting ready to answer my question, and I started saying I think that Americans, you know, we have the right to choose, but then something inside of me said, ‘Carrie, stand up for what you believe in and say what you feel and represent the majority of California. You’re Miss California! The majority of voters believe that a marriage is between a man and a woman.’”
She actually said in the competition, “In my country and in my family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman”. In another interview she said that for her it was about being “Biblically correct”.
While her answer in the competition wasn’t actually that impressive to me either, I did find the media’s response to her answer noteworthy. After all, look at how offended Perez Hilton got over such an in-offensively posed answer! How could such a tiny shred of truth coming from such a worldly woman stir up such a hornet’s nest?
In Carrie Prejean’s situation, we see an example of what happens when a believer has compromised with sin in an area of her life: it makes her convictions and witness dull. That is what I meant when I wrote:
“As a Christian woman, modesty is an area that I personally would refuse to compromise on, as we can see from the mistakes of prominent women that immodesty can give the devil an opportunity to hinder your mission and turn things to his advantage – and giving the devil an opportunity is one thing we are admonished against (Ephesians 4:27).”
But of course, I don’t think of modesty as being merely my “personal taste” – it’s much more than that, and I hope that women such as Carrie Prejean will come to realize it.
Thanks again for the linking and the comment!
~Amanda~
Post Scriptum – And I agree with what you said about the way she (and the other contestants) were dressed in the contest. I found it amusing when I heard that a liberal feminist – who essentially advocates women doing whatever they want without any respect for men – finally found it “convenient” to suggest that bikini swimsuits were immodest.
Of course, she might have just thought it was only immodest for a girl espousing “conservative values” such as marriage. That’s true, of course…which makes me wonder about how many other girls in that pageant were Christians that compromised the same way Carrie Prejean did, and are being let off the hook because they didn’t get asked a controversial question.
~Amanda~