The Wittenberg Trail

Some of us have gushed over Miss California's statement on American family values and have repelled at any criticism of her and her supposed virtues. As it turns out she is a not so virtuous a spokeswoman some on the right had yearned for. In reality she has been exposed for modeling for pornographic photos and has had a documented enlargement of a part of her female anatomy. Any comments about her now? Her situation does recall the Biblical pronouncement of "whoever is without sin let them cast the first stone."

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Who really knows what she believes. She was trying to win a pageant. Maybe she was being gratuitous. You can check Huffington Post and CNN News on the web for further clarification about her deeds.
Who made her a hero?

She was asked an ambush question by a judge with a clear agenda, and he admits that he torpedoed her chances because she didn't give exactly the answer he wanted.

The funny thing is, her answer does not even oppose gay marriage! She says that she is glad that people have a choice in the matter, but that she and her family believes that marriage is between one man and one woman. For this, she was nonsensically blasted by Perez Hilton for imposing her religion on others.

The message this sends is: if you don't toe the left-liberal party line on gay marriage; we will destroy you. But there is a huge double-standard here. Barack Obama (who holds an identical position to Miss California) is given a pass. While non-whites overwhelmingly voted against Prop 8 in California, only white evangelicals, Catholics and Mormons are the approved targets.

This kind of ideological search-and-destroy journalism (also see what was done to Sarah Palin) is uncivil, unfair, and frankly chilling in a free society.

Whoever is without sin cast the first stone? You are ripping this verse out of its correct context by using it this way. Besides, it is irrelevant. Miss California cast no stones in the statement that she made.

And as for what she has or hasn't done in her life, I profoundly don't care. I wouldn't care about the Miss America pageant anyway (I didn't watch it) but for the fact that it provides yet another example of the social thuggery that the pro-gay left favors these days.
How old was she when the pictures were taken? I thought I had heard 17.
Of course ambush search-and destroy journalism is reprehensible. Historically, I believe it began with right -wing journalists who conjured up Travel Gate when Clinton was our leader. Also, one might reflect on how this type of journalism continues to perpetuate the myth that President Obama is not a natural born citizen or a Muslim in disguise. And yes, Miss California was seventeen when the pictures were taken. I wonder if that falls under the mantle of child pornography.
Isn't the Miss America pageant essentially a celebration of the flesh anyway? Frankly, the fact that the pageant involves posing in swimsuits is enough to call into question the legitimacy of any professed morality.
It's sad most people don't see the intimidation that's being done to silence anyone who champions traditional values! We're Christians and we can't change what marriage is, even if we wanted too! By the way, I don't believe by giving an answer that she was in favor of marriage being between a man and a woman was, "casting a stone!"
The Miss America pageant started as a beauty contest to get people to stay an extra week after Labor Day at a resort - I forget which one - bathing suits were the only thing worn at the original pageant. Gowns, talent, questions, and scholarship funds were added to the pageant. Its always been about beauty. I don't think that will ever change.
Robert,

I agree that this kind of uncivil behavior happens on both left and right, and goes back far further than the Clinton Administration. Also, I was a little sloppy in using the word "journalism." The Huffington Post is a deeply ideological blog, most of the writers are not (and do not pretend to be) professional journalists. Likewise, most of the most outrageous smears of Clinton came not from the mainstream media but from sources like the Drudge Report and the American Spectator which do not pretend to be professional news sources. Most of the false rumors about Obama were circulated by email in such a way that no one could be held accountable for their truthfulness.

What is scary is that the "mainstream media," faced with the decline of its business, is acting more and more like the bloggers, and this kind of outrageous behavior is working its way into CNN, Fox and Newsweek.

If this sort of thing interests you, you might be interested in getreligion.org which does a wonderful job of covering how the media covers religion. One of its contributors is Molly Hemingway, one of the strongest voices of confessional Lutheranism and an excellent professional journalist.
Who hires a gay guy to judge a female beauty pageant anyhow?
Ba-Doom Tssh!
I'm serious. For years, the organizers of beauty pageants have looked for all sorts of ways to sell the events as something other than what it is, like a scholarship contest. These efforts are laughable. In the ads I saw this year for Miss America, they were doing their best to repackage it as a reality show. Perhaps the choice of a gay judge was a way to deny that what they are doing is about judging female beauty.

It was a bizarre choice, and Hilton behaved bizarrly.

It would not bother me if the tradtion of Miss America was allowed to die off. If it is NOT a beauty contest, I'm not sure what purpose it serves. If it IS a beauty contest, it deserves much of the criticism that it has received over the years for being focused on a certain kind physical beauty and for treating women as objects.

One of the reasons I don't find MM interesting is that I don't share their standard of beauty. The MM ideal is not one that I find particularly attractive. Also, I have always found a tastefully, normally dressed woman to be more attractive than one wearing either a swimsuit or an evening gown. In my opinion, the whole process of treating women like trophies or show horses is a turn-off that defeats the original purpose.
I have commented on this subject on another Christian radio program (not Issues, Etc.) Here is what I said. This Miss California, who was not very bright sounding as she defended what she said in the pageant to a Fox News reporter, used her "faith" to defend her position. However, she did not use her faith to defend parading around the stage nearly nude (yes, she had on a bikini but that does not mean she was not nearly nude) in a white bikini which looked an awful lot like a bra and panties. If she had done the same thing on a downtown street, she would have been arrested for indecent exposure. If she is going to claim to be a Christian, she must know that Jesus sees her in all her skimpiness whether on a stage or on a public sidewalk and there shouldn't necessarily be a pass for one and a penalty for the other. In other words, women need to be much, much more modest in dress wherever they are and that includes a beach. Sorry girls but we have let it all hang out way too much and thinking Jesus is happy with us for having a Bod for God (as one Lutheran church with a fitness center located in an old Target building referred to it) and wanting to show it off. Folks..................I think the Bible speaks about modesty quite a bit and it seems Christians are picking and choosing a little too much lately on what they want to obey and what they simply ignore. This doesn't have, in my opinion, anything to do with casting the first stone or we would never be able to comment on anything that looks and sounds unGodly. As a very wise person once told me, "Don't expect from people what only God can give?" We cannot expect perfection from Christians, but we can and should expect respect and decency if we are going to attach Jesus' name to what we are doing.

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