Editor's note: Unwilling to let political correctness dictate her behavior as Miss America 2003, Erika Harold took a stand for her beliefs and enduring the controversy that came with it. Last October, certain pageant officials had attempted to suppress her advocacy of sexual abstinence until marriage. Expecting unquestioning compliance from the newly crowned Harold, they instead received a surprise: Erika refused to back down, and the attempts to silence her ended. Having won her fight, Harold then won the admiration of many by observing a self-imposed media silence about the matter.
On Sept. 20, she passed the tiara on to her successor. Today, WorldNetDaily brings you her first in-depth interview as a former Miss America. Radio host Jim Bennett interviewed Harold one week ago.
"God started to make things happen for me in my life. And I remember, He encouraged me to enter the pageant. He encouraged me, saying, 'This is something I want you to do.' I wasn't sure that it would turn out successfully. But He enabled me to do it, and He enabled me to become Miss America.
"One of the things that He spoke to my heart after winning was that He wanted me to speak about abstinence. And there were a lot of people who discouraged me from doing that. But people sent me that verse from [the biblical book of] Esther: 'Who knows that you have been brought to royalty for such a time as this.' And God said, 'This is why I brought you to royalty: For such a time as this.'
"When I started to look back on all the questions and the doubts that I faced, I recognized instantly: That was why. Because I was on a national stage being questioned, being under fire, being targeted. And there were days in which I did not feel that I could stand up to it. But God was saying again, 'It's not how you feel, but it's about being obedient.' And God never let me down. ... I can honestly say that I've come to love Jesus Christ. It's because He's real, and He loves me, and He is the answer for every problem that I may face in life."
--Miss America 2003 Erika Harold, speaking in Iowa Sept. 27
Q: You've had to do a lot of fighting for one so young – not only were you bullied, harassed, and threatened by your classmates in high school, but last year, as Miss America, your convictions made you a target of opportunity because they were deemed politically incorrect. To what factors in your upbringing do you credit your strength?
Erika Harold (photo: Jim Bennett) |
A: Well, my parents, they raised us in a Christian family. I've got three younger brothers and sisters, and we had to go to church, regardless of whether we felt like it or not. And I was like a lot of teen-agers who questioned and said, "I don't know that I need to go to church." I think I actually believed in the concept of a "Universal Church!" (Laughs) I think I actually said, "God's everywhere, he knows where I am, even if I'm in bed on Sunday morning!" They didn't buy into that. They forced me to go, because they knew that there would be a speaker that would come sometime that would say something that would plant a seed in my heart.
And they said, "What you do as an adult, you're responsible for; but God entrusted you to us, and we're going to take the responsibility to train you up the way in which you should go." And they taught me also to stand up for what I believe in. It's really easy to have a faith and to have a belief in something, but it's hard in this day and age to stand up for that. But if you have lifesaving information, if you have something that can be the hope and the answer, then you have an obligation not just to believe it for yourself, but to share it with other people.
Q: You're obviously very close to your mother. In fact, I believe I've heard you say more than once that she's your hero. I understand she homeschooled you through the fourth grade. Looking back, what are your feelings about the experience? Did it also prepare you for the struggles that were ahead of you?
A: I think homeschooling is a wonderful option, and there are a lot of misconceptions that exist about it. Some people think that those who have been homeschooled lack social skills, lack the ability to interact with others, but for me it was an overwhelmingly positive experience. My mother was able to gear my subject matter to things that were of most interest to me, and she was able to find ways to really bring out the best academic insights that I had. I think that kind of individual attention is something that a lot of students don't get in public schools. I am a product of public schools as well, but I think that homeschooling is a viable option for a lot of young people, and I'm glad to see the movement flourishing.
Q: But your experience in public school was sometimes very dangerous, wasn't it? I mean, you were threatened, your home was vandalized, you were sexually harassed, and some of your fellow students once told you they were pooling their lunch money to buy a rifle so they could kill you.
A: As Miss America, I've received many, many letters from young people chronicling their own experiences of victimization. I had read the statistics that over 80 percent of students are victimized at some point in time at school, but this really gave me the opportunity to put faces behind those numbers. I received letters from young people saying they woke up every morning wishing they could die because each and every day they were told they were worthless. They didn't have anybody to stand up for them.
They wrote me letters saying I had made them feel that they could believe in themselves. I actually had the opportunity to counsel a young woman who said that she was suicidal. She had been in foster-care homes, bounced from school to school, home to home, and never learned how to read. Kids used to make fun of her and she said she had thought about committing suicide. But I had the opportunity to pray with her and give her some hope, and so that's the kind of legacy I hope to have left as Miss America.
Q: Do you think you'll homeschool your children?
A: It'll all depend on where I am in life. It's hard for me to project that far into the future. I think it's something that you have to make a full commitment to. You have to make sure that you're in the right place and time that will allow you to provide that full focus, that full attention. It was a positive experience. It's something I would certainly be open to.
Q: What was your first clue that the Miss America organization was trying to prevent you from talking about sexual abstinence?
A: Probably the first indication was I started to hear from pro-family groups that their phone calls were not being returned in regard to booking me for abstinence presentations. And pro-family media entities, their phone calls were not being answered as well.
Q: I can attest to that. I tried everything. Never heard a word from them.
A: And that really surprised me, because if you believe in the First Amendment, if you believe in that foundation of democracy, you have to be able to share your ideas with a broad variety of media. That was probably the first indication to me. I really wasn't aware at the time of all the things that were going on behind the scenes.
Q: Once you won your battle, though, and were free to speak, you could have blasted those who tried to bully you into silence. But you didn't. You said you wouldn't discuss it until after your successor was crowned. Why?
A: Well, I knew that God wanted me to stand firm in what I believed in, but I also knew that He wanted me to carry myself in a gracious and dignified way. It would have undermined my testimony if, while I was saying, "I'm going to stand up for what I believe in," I was behaving at the same time in a manner that appeared un-Christian to the people in the Miss America organization.
God puts us in places to be able to witness to people who may oppose us. During the course of the year they had opportunities to see me present the abstinence message and to see that it's something that's received well by young people. It gives them hope. And I think that may have changed the way the Miss America organization views the abstinence issue.
Q: How did the Lord minister to you during all this? And I assume your family played an important supportive role as well.
A: My family was a very strong support system. They would talk to me daily. They would pray. But I would say I depended more on the Lord during that time because I wasn't with my family and friends. When you're Miss America, you are really separated from those people that you're closest to. So I was just traveling on the road with one traveling companion. At that point in time I really had to rely on God, and not just in a philosophical, rhetorical way. I had to ask him each and every day to give me the courage to speak the things that I knew he wanted me to stand for and to be able to treat people in a way that would honor Him. And I had to pray to Him specifically, "This is an appearance that I have to make, I don't feel strong enough to do it. Please give the strength, please give me the words to speak to this group of people." And He never let me down.
Q: I guess the fact I find most perplexing is their objection to a message of purity and virtue, values most of us thought were cornerstones of the Miss America image. But I find it even harder to understand when I consider the scandals. I remember Miss America 1984, Vanessa Williams, having to resign in disgrace after sexually explicit photographs of her with another woman surfaced. And even more recently, Miss North Carolina had some topless photos taken by an ex-boyfriend turn up. One would think the pageant would be relieved to have a Miss America with your views and be happy to allow you to express them. Help me understand this.
A: It was very surprising to me, too. But I think the issue is that they want to avoid any controversy. It's not even so much that they want to appear virtuous or to oppose virtue. They would want to be in a position where they're able to appeal to all sides. And when you' re promoting something like abstinence until marriage, you're promoting a particular standard. People will either agree or disagree. It requires one to pick a side. And I think that they want to be so inclusive that they don't want Miss America to advocate things that require one to take a strong stance one way or the other.
Q: So the pageant will subject a contestant to an uphill climb if she comes in standing for anything other than world peace and other innocuous things like that?
A: I think it's easier to be successful in the pageant system if you have a platform that everyone embraces. The real change comes when you challenge the status quo. If you're already saying that which everyone agrees with, you're not a leader, you're merely a cheerleader. You're an echo. And if you want to be somebody who uses this position to influence people, you do have to take a stand. You do have to challenge the status quo. And if you're pressing for change, inevitably there's going to be opposition. But that's the only way you actually make something different.
Q: In David Limbaugh's new book, "Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging Political War Against Christianity," you are appropriately listed alongside figures like Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, Evangelist Franklin Graham and actor Mel Gibson as yet another example of what can happen to someone who publicly expresses their Christian faith. Do you think that by defeating attempts to persecute you, you may blaze a trail for other believers?
A: Each and every day, God asks us simply to be obedient, and sometimes we try to think, "Well, how is this going to work out in the long run?" We have no idea how the groundwork we lay is going to help someone else. Certainly, people laid the groundwork for me – by their prayers, by standing up for things along the way – not just in the Miss America organization, but in the larger culture as well. And each one of us is required not only to be the beneficiary of that, but also to leave behind a legacy as well. So I hope that my standing up gives other people – not just in the Miss America Organization, but any young person who has something they believe in passionately – I hope it gives them courage to stand and recognize that they'll be supported by their fellow Christians.
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Jim Bennett is a freelance writer and radio host. He serves as the news director for Moody Broadcasting Network's WDLM-FM, reaching the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa.