Whatever is True... Noble...

Michael Craven Michael Craven's weblog
Published Jul 11, 2005

A scarcely-noticed event of some cultural significance took place a couple of weeks ago with the conclusion of the final America's Junior Miss pageant. After nearly half a century, America's Junior Miss pageant (formerly Junior Miss America) has come to an end. The board that governs the pageant, which features high school seniors competing for scholarships, voted to end the event after the June 25th pageant, citing problems in attracting national sponsors and a major television network.

The 48-year-old national program, which once had big-name sponsors and produced future celebrities such as television newswoman Diane Sawyer (America's Junior Miss 1963), was broadcast on network TV in its heyday. But that had changed in recent years. Ironically, one-time sponsor Coca-Cola who ultimately withdrew its support of America's Junior Miss did think it desirable to sponsor the 2001 "Gay Olympic Games." Unfortunately, today many Fortune 500 companies unabashedly throw their sponsorship behind vulgar television and radio programming as well as profligate political causes and seem to have little interest in contributing to a virtuous society.

Over the course of its history more than 700,000 young women took part in Junior Miss programs and received more than $87.7 million in cash scholarships; a quick survey of the past winners and competitors reveals young women of extraordinary accomplishment in almost every field. I myself went to High School with America's Junior Miss, 1977, Christy Moller and I remember her as an intelligent, accomplished person who was respected by her peers.

In a statement released two weeks ago, the board of directors said that "to attract a sizable viewing audience in these times would require the program to compromise its standards and values." The America's Junior Miss pageant had always been committed to promoting a wholesome image of young women competing in categories such as talent, interview, scholastics and fitness, but not swimsuit.

So, you may say, "big deal!" "It's just another beauty pageant." However, America's Junior Miss was not just another beauty pageant and that's what makes this decision so culturally significant. Contrary to the prevailing views of today, America's Junior Miss promoted the idea that young women were more than just bare belly buttons, large breasts or pretty faces. Instead the emphasis was on real accomplishments and the nobler virtues once common to civilized people. These young women achieved extraordinary levels of academic proficiency, demonstrated real talent resulting from hard work and determination, and committed themselves to the betterment of their communities and the world in which they lived. These were young women of real and substantive accomplishment who served as honorable and important role models for other young girls for more than four decades.

However, as our culture changed, becoming increasingly sensate and cynical, the America's Junior Miss pageant became "old-fashioned" and "out-of-date." One network even challenged the pageant organizers to incorporate a swimsuit competition in order to attract more viewers. The point being; a program dedicated to honoring young women given to substantive accomplishment and character virtues was a lot less interesting than watching a bunch of young girls bounce around the stage in bikinis!

In this sense, the little-noticed passing of America's Junior Miss pageant becomes one more signpost on the road to our self-destruction. It is but one more example of a culture given over to meaningless drivel and amusement, no longer committed to cultivating virtue in its people. By contrast we seem much more interested in watching women eating bugs while wearing bikinis or Desperate Housewives or a vacuous and lathered up Paris Hilton sliding around the hood of a car peddling hamburgers for Carl's Jr.

This is the same degenerative social pattern observed by the noted British anthropologist, J.D. Unwin in his highly regarded study, Sex and Culture, published in 1934. Unwin studied 16 civilized and 80 uncivilized cultures spanning more than 5000 years of history and observed that, "The Cultural condition of any society depends upon its social and mental energy, or creative energy." Unwin defined this "creative energy" as that which was directed toward productive endeavors that contributed to the betterment of society. This included all fields of human endeavor from the sciences to the humanities, film to the fine arts, politics to philosophy, and so on.

This creative energy, he concluded, was greater within those cultures that socially reinforced limiting sex to marriage and greatly diminished in cultures which gave sexual license beyond marriage. More specifically Unwin observed that, "Those cultures which allowed sexual freedom do not display a high level of social energy - their energy is consumed with meeting their physical appetites - they do not think large thoughts about the physical world - they are not interested in metaphysical questions regarding life and its meaning. In these cultures, life is for now." (This seems to describe much of American culture today.)

In other words, societies that first violate God's design for sexuality inevitably become hedonistic, selfish, and thus no longer committed to cultivating virtue. They, at almost every point, mock and ridicule virtue, honor and integrity as being "old-fashioned" and "out-of-date." The result in every instance is a cultural descent into a crude and boorish civilization obsessed with the superficial and sensate pleasures. I hasten to add that because these cultures abandon interest in the larger questions of life; the advance of the Gospel is hindered. (Men suppress the truth by their wickedness. - Romans 1:18)

The duty of responsible people today and principally the Church is to remind the world of what is being lost and that this loss has profound and devastating consequences on individuals and society. As men we must not contribute to a culture that demeans and denigrates women into mere objects of sexual gratification and women certainly should not be compliant in fostering this same sub-human image of themselves and their daughters. To do so will only hasten our descent into moral decadence and decay. Instead scripture tells us, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)

Indeed, let us first endeavor to maintain these "things" for only then we will even know to think about them. This is what America's Junior Miss promoted and attempted to perpetuate in young women and it is the broader loss of interest in such an effort that should concern us all.

S. Michael Craven is the vice president for religion & culture at the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families and leads the work and ministry of Cultural Apologetics. The Cultural Apologetics ministry works to equip the Church to assert and defend biblical morality and ethics in a manner that is rational, relevant and persuasive in order to recapture the relevance of Christianity to all of life by demonstrating its complete correspondence to reality. For more information on Cultural Apologetics, additional resources and other works by S. Michael Craven visit: www.CulturalApologetics.org

Michael lives in the Dallas area with his wife Carol and their three children.

Send feedback to: mc@nationalcoalition.org