And the winner is…

The Eurovision Song Contest may be one of those shows watched by more people than will admit to watching it.  The runaway winner last weekend was Conchita Wurst, the bearded Austrian drag queen.  As she accepted her trophy, she tearfully said, “This is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom.  You know who you are – we are unity and we are unstoppable … For me, my dream came true.  But for our society, it just showed me that there are people out there who want to go into the future and go on, you know, not slipping back or thinking in the past.”  Her victory was hailed in the media – at least in western Europe – as a victory against discrimination.

She is right.  Such contests do say something about our society.  For one thing, it shows how many people believe that we are free to define ourselves as we wish, to be who we want to be, and expect to be accepted, even celebrated, by others.  You could say that the real winner is Individualism.

Now, this is a tricky area to get right.  As Christians, we are committed to loving everyone, including those we disagree with and those who may not love us.  But are we human beings really free to define our own reality, and have it conform to our wishes? Isn’t that God’s job?  Do you remember the original temptation: “you will be like God”?  How appealing that is!  But is that really freedom, or the most terrible slaver