Miss America, the NFL, and Domestic Violence

Sunday night, 23-year old Kira Kazantsev proved two things when she was crowned Miss America for 2015. First, she can make a nationally television audience “happy” by using only a red plastic cup. Second, domestic violence knows no bounds.

That’s right. This year’s Miss America is one of the every four women who has experienced domestic abuse in her lifetime. During college, Kazanstev was in an abusive relationship that left her “isolated” and “hopeless,” she recently told NPR. In the same interview, Kazanstev says she wasn’t aware of the resources available for victims of domestic violence: "I very well may have Googled it," she says. "But that's not the mindset that you're in when you're in that situation. You just feel alone. You feel helpless. You don't feel like anyone could possibly understand."

Kazantsev’s platform for the Miss America event was “Love Doesn’t Have to Hurt: Protecting Women Against Domestic Violence.” As a victim turned advocate, Kazanstev works with Safe Horizon, the largest organization helping victims of crime and abuse in the United States. Miss West Virginia, Paige Madden, and Miss Delaware, Brittany Lewis, also chose the issue of domestic violence as their platforms for social change.

After the video of Ray Rice violently knocking his then-fiancée unconscious appeared on national media last week, uproar for high-profile advocacy for domestic violence has been brewing in the public sphere. On Twitter, the hashtags #WhyIStayed and #WhyILeft gained huge support inspiring the Huffington Post to publish a six-part series with six different domestic violence survivors explaining their own story.

What can we take away from Miss America and the recent presence of domestic violence in the mainstream media? Domestic violence knows no bounds. No racial bounds. No economic bounds. No religious bounds.

Barbara Paradiso, director of the Center on Domestic Violence at the University of Colorado Denver, said in a recent article:

"I think we still hold on to some of those stereotypical beliefs. When we think about the typical victims of domestic violence, we think of someone who is poor, might not have many resources or is unintelligent … When you have someone who has been able to be as successful as a Miss America [experience domestic violence], that helps us put this in perspective."

Each of us is a potential victim. As Christians, we are obligated to be aware of this message. From the biblical passages illustrating the rape of Tamar in 2 Samuel and a woman’s brutal rape and dismemberment in Judges 19 to our current news cycle, domestic violence is an issue that can no longer linger in the shadows of society.

In communities of faith, it is vital to open room for discussion on domestic violence. According to a recent survey published by Sojourners and IMA World Health, “Women who are religious can be especially vulnerable when abused, because they are more likely to place high value on keeping a family intact or to consider separation and divorce as unsatisfactory or unbiblical.” Religion News Service also recently published an article portraying the negative role church leaders play in being #TheReasonWhyIStay for women of the religious community. Skewed biblical interpretations of passages such as 1 Peter 1:6 have been misapplied to the context of abuse. “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”

According to Justin Holcomb, Professor of Christian Thought at Reformed Theology Seminary, “this verse has been grossly misused to tell women they should simply accept abuse and use the suffering as an opportunity to grow in their faith.”

Religious dogma cannot continue to be a justification for domestic abuse. Rather, we must look to God’s original intention in Leviticus 26:6, “I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid.” By these words, the church must be a sanctuary for peace, a place that drowns out fear, a place of safety.

The recent influx of headlines on domestic violence cannot go unnoticed by members of the faith community. It is imperative that the church and the Bible are sources of refuge for victims of domestic violence. The first step in changing a problem is addressing it. There needs to be conversation between pastors and parishioners that the church must be an open and safe arena for discussion on domestic violence. As Miss America said, "The main goal is to get people talking about it. If people are willing to talk about it, they're not scared of it; it's not taboo."

Kaeley McEvoy is Campaigns Assistant for Sojourners.

Image: Miss America 2015 Kira Kazantsev and Miss America 2014 Nina Davuluri, via Disney, ABC Television Group.