Elegy and explanation at the jump.
FYI: photos from the cover of First Call's 1993 album, Sacred Journey under the Sony label:
Last night, Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who once signed onto a full-page USA Todady ad that proclaimed that women should graciously submit to their husbands , earned the Republican party's nomination opposite Democratic victor Barack Obama in the Iowa caucus. Yay. I'm obviously excited for Obama, but worried about the resurgent influence of the Religious Right in the upcoming 2008 elections.
Although I'm relieved that sleazebag fascist Giuliani came in dead last, and plastic sore loser Mitt Romney was trounced handily by the new frontrunner, Mike Huckabee worries me. Yes, he seems like a decent person with a social conscience who at least doesn't cynically use religion to gain votes like a certain current occupant of 1600 Penn. Ave. that we all know and loathe. He's the real deal and clearly a true believer, which both impresses and scares me at the same time. (Not to mention the fact that his animal-killing kids creep me out. But that's neither here nor there.)
Huckabee worries me because his victory last night signals that the strong influence of conservative evangelicals still remains in this country. Yes, their priorities are changing, and Markos has argued (see link) somewhat for the better:
Meanwhile, conservative Evangelicals are freaking out over the splintering of their movement, with many Evangelicals deciding it's best to follow the Bible's teachings rather than marching orders from RNC headquarters.
[O]ther religious voters are embracing causes not traditionally identified with American conservatism, such as global warming, human rights and poverty relief [...]
This is wonderful news. I am happy that more and more evangelicals, even conservative evangelicals, are deciding that there are more important issues facing our nation, and our planet, than just embryonic stem cells, two guys getting married, and feeding tubes. Even the 21st Century Crusade occupation of Iraq is souring on the evangelical crowd, and better late than never.
Nevertheless, Huckabee's Draconian beliefs about women persist in worrying me to the point that I've decided that electing a Democrat in 2008 is a must, no matter who eventually takes the nomination. It worries me not only because I am a woman, but because I may have a daughter someday, and I don't want to see my daughter's, or any one else's daughter's future in America be predetermined by the theocratic necessity of women becoming again forever subservient to men.
I am worried because of what happened to MaraBeth Jordan.
One of the reasons I am an atheist could be manifested in Brendan Manning's brilliant quote :
The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians; who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
Witness the destruction that the self-purported "Christian" George W. Bush has waged upon both this country and the world, all in the name of restoring the world for Christianity "democracy" yet killing thousands and letting millions to die needlessly as a result of hunger, poor healthcare, the occupation of Iraq, and the floodwaters of Katrina. I've said this before and I'll say it again: people say they voted for this cretin to save the unborn babies; but what of those who are already HERE?
Another reason I am an atheist is because of the double-standard treatment of women in fundamentalist Christianity and other dogmas. I particularly recall the plight of Michael English and MaraBeth Jordan :
First Call was a Christian Contemporary music group consisting of Melodie Tunney, Marty McCall, and Bonnie Keen.
MaraBeth Jordan, a group member at the time, was involved in a highly publicized affair with Michael English in 1994. This affair lost First Call a record deal and MaraBeth Jordan left the group...After the controversy involving the affair between MaraBeth and Michael English in 1994, Melodie returned to the group for a short period to try and reduce damage to the group's image.
I feel sickened when I think about the "Christian" community's past reaction over the affair, and the double-standard that it seemed to ultimately place on MaraBeth's involvement in the "two-to-tango" versus Michael's. To be fair, both singers' careers were disrupted initially, but Michael's is the only one of the two that seems to have recovered.
The Google search of Michael English's name brings up plenty of recent results for the singer, who still records records (including crossover successes), has remarried and has had a child, has written a confessional book about his life and loves and even has a flashy Web site dedicated to his music and his career--and interestingly enough, admonishes the movie The Golden Compass for its tepid call to rejecting dogmatism and encourages his site's viewers to why not break out the popcorn and rent the insipid Chronicles of Narnia instead?
Conversely, a Google search of MaraBeth Jordan brings up, in stark contrast to the hit results for her former paramour, sparse references to the sex scandal surrounding her and Michael English, needle-in-a-haystack glints of her singing backup vocals on Vince Gill and Reba McEntire, and one explanation of where she is now on a cached page of a Christian discussion board in a thread about Michael English's book:
Do any CCM fans know what became of Marabeth Jordan?
Yes. Marabeth Jordan returned to doing studio work in Nashville. She was a studio singer before joining First Call...
So I guess she's still alive, or was at the time of that archived posting, and I can breathe easy that she's not in poverty now, or dead, or on drugs, or in rehab or homeless somewhere in the United States of Generica (h/t Dan Bern). Perhaps I should give her the benefit of the doubt; maybe she is a much more private person who doesn't want to put her life and her personal failings on display like her ex-lover does in (literally) his open book of a life.
Yet I ask, what of her life? Why should she shrink into obscurity, whether by her choice over embarrassment or by force from the evangelical Christian community that prefers its women to be chaste, fertile, and submissive? Why should Michael English be allowed to flourish after his sexual immorality but Marabeth, as a woman, be persecuted--metaphorically stoned, if you will--for hers? Did not Jesus Christ himself take the hand of a harlot and save her from the stoning pit? See John 8 1 to 11:
1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
11"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
I do not condone marital infidelity, believe me--I've been on the receiving end of it and know how much it hurts. Yet the double-standard here is stomach-wrenching. The overt, abject sexism and misogyny that still remains in the evangelical community is deeply troubling, if not absolutely sickening, to me. Michael English was a married guy who fooled around with a married chick; his career was allowed to be rebuilt and all was forgiven, but all that remains of MaraBeth Jordan's life, at least at it appears on the Interwebs, are ashes.
Has the evangelical community shunned MaraBeth yet given Michael a free pass because she is a woman and is supposed to submit, as Mike Huckabee implies? Is this what we as women have to face if a President Huckabee is sworn into office in early 2009?
Women, lovers and respecters of women, fathers, brothers, and sons of women--fuck it, human beings in general: let this be a warning lest you consider skipping the ballot box in November because your pet Democrat didn't pass the primaries.
Yes, I'm a staunch and fired-up, ready-to-go Obama supporter, but as I've said in many a comment here on KOS, I'll vote for my own dachshund for President if he has a (D) after his name.
Remember Huckabee. And remember MaraBeth.