Controversy surrounds Miss USA first-runner up’s response to same-sex marriage question

La Jolla resident Carrie Prejean, a junior at San Diego Christian College in El Cajon, was voted first-runner up in the annual Miss USA pageant, held April 19 in Las Vegas.

Prejean, the reigning Miss California and former Miss Greater San Diego, is taking heat for giving an honest answer when openly gay judge Perez Hilton asked the Christian contestant if she believed other states should follow Vermont’s lead in legalizing same-sex marriage.

What was it he wanted? A plug on national television to uphold gay marriage?

Prejean did not criticize homosexuality. She merely said she was brought up to believe that marriage is between and man and a woman, and that is what she believed. She only stated a personal opinion about her beliefs without judging anyone else’s. Many feel the honest statement cost her the crown.

The disparaging swipes that Hilton and the media are taking at Prejean are despicable.

Hilton, a professional blogger, called her a b---- on his web site. And he was one of the judges.

An article on NBCSan Diego.com was titled, “Miss Cali: Pretty Until She Opens Her Mouth.” The writer Laura Baron said that Carrie Prejean probably shouldn’t have been allowed to compete, much less win. Baron then states there is nothing beautiful about intolerance.

Perhaps the lesson learned is that one can only express their beliefs and opinions if it is popular. Wait… didn’t California vote in favor of marriage being defined as between a man and a woman — doesn’t that make it the popular opinion?

Check out the video of the controversial question and the Christian Examiner's story.

Easter — Resurrection Morning

They took Him a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, and crucified Him.

At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. At about three o'clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lemasabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea, who was one of Jesus' followers, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance as he left. Both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting nearby watching.

Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to see the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, because an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled aside the stone and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

Then the angel spoke to the women. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn't here! He has been raised from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now go quickly and tell his disciples he has been raised from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember, I have told you."

The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to find the disciples to give them the angel's message. And as they went, Jesus met them. "Greetings!" he said. And they ran to him, held his feet, and worshiped him. The Jesus said to them, "Don't be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there." — from Matthew 27:32-44 (NLT)

On Easter morning, believers do not mourn a martyr, but celebrate a risen Savior. Christ’s victory over death gives us the promise of eternity in Heaven. When the trials and tribulations around us seem insurmountable, we need to remember that the ultimate battle is over; Christ said on the cross, “It is finished.” And someday every knee will bow and every tongue confess that, He is Lord.

Have a blessed resurrection morning.

Christian student booted for not embracing homosexuality

DETROIT, Mich. — A graduate counseling student at Eastern Michigan University, who was expelled from the program for not affirming homosexual behavior as acceptable, has filed a federal lawsuit.
Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom said the school dismissed Julea Ward from the program because she would not agree prior to a counseling session to affirm a client’s homosexual behavior and would not retract her stance in subsequent disciplinary proceedings.

“Christian students shouldn’t be penalized for holding to their beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel David French. “When a public university has a prerequisite of affirming homosexual behavior as morally good in order to obtain a degree, the school is stepping over the legal line. Julea did the responsible thing and followed her supervising professor’s advice to have the client referred to a counselor who did not have a conscience issue with the very matter to be discussed in counseling.”

The university requires students in its program to affirm or validate homosexual behavior within the context of a counseling relationship and prohibits students from advising clients that they can change their homosexual behavior.

EMU, the attorneys said, threatened Ward with expulsion if she did not agreed to undergo a “remediation” so she could “see the error of her ways” and change her “belief system. When Ward did not agree with the conditions, she was given the options of either voluntarily leaving the program or asking for a formal faculty review hearing, at which she was denigrated for her Christian views. The committee dismissed her from the counseling program on March 12 and her appeal to the dean was denied.

“(Julea) acted as a professional counselor should—with great concern both for her beliefs and the client,” ADF Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco said. “The two are not incompatible, but EMU’s policies are incompatible with the Constitution.”