Why I like Tammy Faye Messner

She wears a LOT of make-up. It's obvious that she's been as renovated as the Statue of Liberty. Tammy was the symbol of everything that was wrong and repulsive about tele-evangelism, skimming tithe money off of the ministry she and her husband ran in order to build multi-million dollar homes and a rumored air-conditioned dog house, then divorcing Jim when times got tough. And she still calls herself a "minister of the Lord."

But after this past week, I can't help but like her on some level. I saw Tammy Faye while watching the season finale of "The Surreal Life", a reality show that stacks a group of washed-up and lesser-known celebrities into one house to live together for a time. Tammy Faye was one of the house residents, as was a girl named "Trishelle", who is so lesser-known that I have no idea where they dug her up from. Trishelle is a party girl in her early twenties who goes a little wild on alcohol every now and then, and on this final show, they confronted each member of the cast with some prior "bad behavior" on an in-house Sally Jesse Raphael show. Video was shown of Trishelle kissing numerous guys while she was obviously drunk. Sally called her a slut, and Trishelle got upset, threw her mic down, and left. Then Tammy stepped up.

"Let me tell you something about Trishelle. She lost her real mom when she was 14 years old. I don't understand what she does all the time, but I think some of it is that she has a void in her life because of the loss of her mom. I'd like to think that during my time here that I've helped her with that. I think she's great and I've just come to love that kid." By the time she was done speaking, Tammy was in tears, mascara running down her face. I flashed back to the mid-eighties, when that same image had been used as a symbol of all that was wrong with Christian culture in America. Now, it was a symbol of someone standing up to an overly-judgmental talk show host to defend someone who was hurt in a lot of different ways.

I don't think that excessive drinking or loose sexual behavior needs to be defended. It was clear that Tammy did not agree with those. But this young woman who Tammy has grown so fond of was attacked out of self-righteousness and a desire to please an audience. "Someone has to tell her that she looks like a slut" was Sally's justificiation. But maybe there is a hole in her life. I think Tammy Faye would know better than I would (or Sally would, for that matter). If that's the case, then people have to work through that. Hard times can lead to introspection and re-evaluation that people often end up seeing God in, once it's all said and done. Name-calling just hardens hearts. Tammy Faye recognized this. Too many Christians don't.

So I like Tammy Faye. No, I don't like everything that she does. I'm sure that if I saw her "Christian television show" that it would make my eyes roll into the back of my head. And if my daughter ever came home with that much make-up on, there would be a period of civil unrest. But I still like her, because I'd remember what she did for a young woman who apparently needed to be loved.
posted by Stephen at 11:13 AM | |