“Don’t ever compromise. Your goal should be to please God, not please man” – Carrie Prejean
The U.S.A., at this moment, is engaged in an escalating culture war on the issue of same-sex “marriage.” If the battle plays out as it did in Canada, many Christians and many churches will largely run for cover, instead of speaking clearly what the Bible has taught for 2,000 years. But, like a voice crying in the wilderness, a little-known beauty queen from California has stunned both Christians and secularists by her brave stand for traditional marriage.
In the final stages of judging at the Miss U.S.A. pageant on April 19, 21-year-old Miss California, Carrie Prejean, from San Diego Christian College, was the only contestant thrown a political “bombshell.” Judge Perez Hilton, a homosexual activist and pundit, made the query, “Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex ‘marriage;’ do you think every state should follow suit?”
Prejean’s remarkably brave answer included the words, “I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offence to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be – between a man and a woman.”
With that response, she lost her bid for the Miss U.S.A. tiara and lit a fire of controversy that has not yet abated.
On his website, Hilton slandered her as a “b—ch” and defaced photos of her with sexually explicit drawings. He reputedly commented that he had given her a zero and that, if she had won, he would have ripped off her crown and ran from the building.
Since then, the radical left, much of the media and many bloggers have scornfully attacked Prejean because of her politically incorrect views. Even some conservative Christian groups have abandoned her because of her association with beauty pageants and some of her past modelling activities when she was a teenager.
In this, they are doubtlessly wrong. After all, God himself once used an ass as his messenger, a prostitute to protect his spies and selected a murderer as his chief apostle. Why would He hesitate, then, to use an imperfect, flamboyant beauty queen for his purposes? Spiritual purists who think otherwise should beware of trying to be more spiritual than God. In any case, traditional marriage supporters like Focus on the Family, and Maggie Gallagher’s National Organization for Marriage, have risen to her defence.
Who can doubt that the question by Perez Hilton was deliberately chosen to expose Prejean’s beliefs? Knowing she was from a Christian college, Hilton undeniably had a clear idea as to what she believed. He knew that she couldn’t falsify an answer and still be true to her convictions. The fact is, Hilton’s question was designed to out Prejean as a Christian who believed in biblical marriage. Who knew that a time would come when Christians would need to be “outed”? In any case, his question succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.
Prejean admits that, for awhile, she was tempted to fudge the answer. She told Dr. James Dobson on his Focus on the Family program, “God was saying … ‘Carrie, do not compromise this – you need to stand up for me … you need to show you’re not willing to compromise this for this title of Miss U.S.A.’” Later on, she would add, “We must remember that we are called to please God and not man.”
It seems that the more things change, the more they remain the same. In the early days of Christianity, followers of Christ were often slandered as “haters of men,” because they refused to endorse the immorality of Roman culture. Christians of that early era were sometimes dragged before imperial courts with the demand that they offer incense before a bust of Caesar while proclaiming, “Caesar is Lord.” This they refused to do, for to them there was only one Lord — Jesus Christ. Carrie Prejean stands in a long line of faithful Christians who stand tall because they have said “No” to the ruling political correctness of their day.
Prejean threw away her dream of becoming Miss U.S.A. because she honored someone else and all He stands for, more than her own desires. One day, He will honor her by placing a resplendent heavenly crown on her brow, saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” In the meantime, and with offence toward no one, I say to the faithful and beautiful Carrie Prejean, “Good on you, girl — you’ve served your master well!”
