In ancient Israel
it was the custom to hire Hittite mercenary soldiers to assist in battling the
nation’s enemies. Uriah was one of these mercenaries during the time of King
David, and he lived in Jerusalem
with his wife Bathsheba. From his palace David had a clear enough view of their
rooftop where Bathsheba bathed when Uriah was at work. David had an affair with
Bathsheba, after which he ordered his general to have Uriah killed in battle. The
general positioned Uriah at the front of the action, and then pulled all the
other men back and left him alone to face the enemy. So Uriah the Hittite was
killed in accordance with David’s wishes.
Jumping ahead to the Miss USA pageant in April of 2009, each
of the finalists stood alone on a stage to field a question from one of the pageant
judges. Caroline Michelle (“Carrie”) Prejean, Miss California , stood on that stage and listened
to the question that she was to answer. The judge asked Carrie to give her
opinion of same-sex marriage. Carrie’s answer, that she supported marriage as
between a man and a woman, touched off a firestorm.
It’s been at least thirty years since I’ve watched any sort
of beauty pageant (or “scholarship competition,” as expressed in “Miss
Congeniality”). So I caught all this on the reruns. As I watched, I found
myself picturing Carrie in the position of Uriah the Hittite, receiving darts
and arrows from the judge and from thousands in the community that favors
same-sex marriage. That community includes heterosexual as well as homosexual persons.
Over the next several weeks, two things surprised me above
everything else. The first -- and the lesser -- was that so few of Carrie’s critics
were gay and lesbian activists. There were some, of course, whose voices constantly
demand “Don’t cram your values down our throats” (while exempting themselves
from such restraint), but they were relatively benign in Carrie’s case;
apparently they were able to dismiss a 22-year-old woman’s opinion. Perhaps
they even respected Carrie for not giving one of those air-headed “world peace”
answers!
To describe the second surprise, I’ll refer back to Uriah
the Hittite. An essential difference is that Uriah was not fragged, and Carrie
was. When David’s soldiers pulled back and left Uriah alone to die, they didn’t
shoot Uriah in the back. When Carrie stood alone on the stage and spoke on
marriage according to her Christian upbringing, pulpiteers from around the
nation launched their barbs into her back. How dare this twenty-two-year-old,
who prances around in public wearing scant clothing and provocative swimsuits,
make such a statement about Christian upbringing? Oh, and did we mention, that
this seductress also had bod mods? And furthermore, did you know that her
parents had a bitter divorce?
Why the hateful epithets from pulpiteers who agreed
with her? Wouldn’t you expect, at least, Evangelical Christian
preachers to come to her defense? Or at least, wouldn’t you expect silence
rather than sanctimonious condemnation of the young woman?
I believe their hateful barbs were the result of jealousy.
When preachers speak in favor of traditional marriage, the vast majority of
them do so from the safety of their pulpits. But when it comes to the public
square, they clam up. Worse still, in Carrie’s case, they resented anyone who
showed the courage that they themselves were lacking. So they, many of them my
colleagues, lowered themselves to the level of political candidates and
attacked the character of the person who stung them.
Nothing here is intended to side with or against Carrie. My
position on same-sex marriage offends the sacred cows on both sides of the
battlefield, just as my position on homosexuality and homosexual behavior. But
when someone stands publicly and expresses her opinion about an issue, the
content of what she said makes no difference whether she’s Rahab the Harlot or the Blessed Virgin Mary. She simply deserves better than to be slammed and
demonized by the spineless who who won’t even stand beside her and say nothing
more than “In this I agree with you.”
In my sadness and cynicism, it will never be a surprise to
me when (not if) my colleagues in ministry act in this shameful manner again.
In my opinion Carrie’s no victim. She chose the high-risk path
that goes with all activity whose central theme is display of the feminine
form. She also chose to be a combatant on a battlefield, when she could have
made some inane comment similar to those made by the pageant winner and by her replacement
as Miss California .
Yes, expressing her position not only cost Carrie the Miss USA crown, but eventually
the pageant owners also took away her state title. But she made adult choices
among adults who held her accountable for those choices. And since there is
more to the story than an answer in a beauty pageant, we’re talking about
lopsided balance pans in the scale of justice rather than the slaughter of an
innocent lamb.
We all face difficult choices daily. With some we encounter
defining moments, when we can take a stand or choose not to. In those few
seconds between the end of the judge’s question and the beginning of our
answer, however, we don’t define ourselves; we draw on the definition of who we
are. If I were preaching, I’d probably add that we dig deep into ourselves and
remember whose we are as well.
I’ll leave you with a happy difference between Uriah the
Hittite and Carrie the Californian. Uriah died. Carrie married NFL quarterback
Kyle Boller just over a year ago, and on May 11 of this year she gave birth to
Grace Christina. I’d say Carrie made out far better than she would have if she
had become Miss USA !
Grace and Peace,
Charles+
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