By now, most, if not all of us have heard the story about the Miss USA pageant. Miss California, a finalist, was asked a question about gay marriage by Perez Hilton, a homosexual and celebrity tabloider (if that’s a word). Miss California aka Carrie Prejean defended traditional marriage and said she believe gay marriage should not be legalized. Hilton hated her answer, docked her on points, and she didn’t win the competition.
Since then, the media and Christian world has been in love with Carrie Prejean. She has appeared on The Today Show and even introduced MercyMe during the GMA Dove Awards (basically the Christian Grammy’s). Prejean has also said she will campaign against gay marriage because it goes against her upbringing and biblical beliefs.
Sounds great, right? Christians around the country are falling in love with this girl. She’s become, as some would call it, the “poster girl” for Christianity, traditional marriage, and biblical belief. Obviously, the Gospel Music Association feels this way. Shouldn’t we all?
I think we’ve missed something here. We’re looking at the surface, but not going much deeper. Did we forget that in the same competition, Prejean strutted around stage in a white bikini, showing off her body and physical features? How well did that aspect of the competition promote her faith, Christianity, and biblical upbringing?
Some of you are probably saying that it’s just a swimsuit and all of the girls had to wear one. It’s no big deal. Okay, I disagree but I’ll give you that for the sake of the argument. But let’s go a little bit deeper. Yesterday, USA Today reported that Carrie Prejean (Miss California) had surgery to receive breast implants just a few weeks ago. The group behind the Miss California USA pageant actually offered to pay for them, Prejean wanted them, and so she had the surgery done.
This is a problem! Our culture already has a difficult enough time dealing with self-esteem, image, lust, sexuality, etc. I believe Prejean has a right to do whatever she wants. If she wants surgery, she has the right to do that. But I also believe Christian organizations, associations, publishers, etc also have a responsibility to gather their information and use discretion before pushing someone into the spotlight for “Christianity.” Yes, Prejean has embraced that role, but I don’t think I want her to.
Walt Mueller of CPYU had this to say about the issue on his blog:
We’ve got a generation of girls who erroneously and dangerously seek to find their identity in what they look like. We’ve got a generation of guys who define girls the same way…We’ve done a terrible job integrating our faith into ALL of life.
And now for my prediction. . . . Prejean is going to become the darling of conservative Christians. I include myself in that conservative Christian group. I don’t include myself in the group that will embrace Prejean. I think it will play out that she will be hitting the Christian banquet circuit and the Christian book circuit real, real soon. Some Christian publisher is going to sign her to a contract if it hasn’t happened already. Just for consistency’s sake, I think she should appear at the podium and on the book cover in that white bikini. . . really.
As someone who works with teens and who has a 17-year-old sister, I sincerely hope Miss California only has her 15 minutes of fame and then fades into the vault of past pop culture memories. I applaud the stance she takes on gay marriage and her willingness to step out and say something that is not politically correct. However, I am dismayed that it seems she has not been able to apply that biblical truth to all of life.
For those of you who say, “You’re not perfect either!” I completely agree. But if you find fault in my ways, I hope that you will pray that I will never become the face of Christianity based on 1 single question.
