We're Not in Kansas Anymore

Since my teenage years were spent in the San Francisco Bay Area, I became a reluctant fan of the San Francisco Chronicle. I loved the Sporting Green, the sports section which was always colored, well, green!

I must admit that I still go to the Chronicle website daily to check up on the teams I root for, and for whom no disappointment is too great.

So tonight I am trolling through an article on my Cal Golden Bears, who are perched to break my heart in the post-season again. And my eye caught an article by Bob Thomas of the AP. The AP is the most virulently anti-Christian new agency out there, in my not so humble opinion, and this article does nothing to dissuade me.

It is an article about Betty Page, a "cultural icon" who was a centerfold in Playboy on 1955, and who seemed to do nothing more than pose in scant clothing as a young woman. This line caught my eye:

Page mysteriously disappeared from the public eye for decades, during which time she battled mental illness and became a born-again Christian.

Hmm, battling mental illness leads one to become a born-again Christian. No media bias there! Can you imagine the outcry if the phrase was, "she battled mental illness and became a Muslim"?

Or how about, "she battled mental illness and came out as a lesbian"?

Well, those seem to be protected groups these days, so let's go after the Christians.

She seems to have lived a profligate life in her younger years, with multiple husbands. Later came "home", joined a church, went to Bible school, worked for Billy Graham, wanted to do mission work. Her father molested Betty and her two sisters when they were growing up, and he eventually went to prison. Not the sort of home life one would want, but it makes sense that she would flaunt her sexuality as a young adult.

Interesting juxtaposition, though. She is a cultural icon of the sexual revolution, and the victim of molestation at home. And yet, the "cause" for her mental illness is being a born-again Christian? Puh-lease! Maybe, just maybe, her Christian faith helped her cope with her past, and her future.

May she rest in peace.