I wrote something about this on the personal blog I was keeping at the time, and the issue came up recently in a book study group at Bethany, so I thought I'd post the story again. It's three years old, but still very relevant:
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By now most people have heard about the legal troubles of Atlanta Falcons quarterback, Michael Vick, who is charged with involvement in illegal dogfighting. He is in some serious, potentially career-damaging trouble and has become a punching bag for many public commentators. Apparently dog fighting is one of the most intolerable sins for many in pop culture.
But what really strikes me is the disparity between the Vick scandal and a recent news story about another famous NFL quarterback, Tom Brady, three-time Superbowl champion for the New England Patriots. Brady's story, which seems to be anything but scandalous to those reporting it, is that he got his girlfriend, Bridget Moynahan, pregnant, but then the couple broke up. As it turns out, nine months wasn't too short a time for Brady to find a new girlfriend, whom he's now with while the old one is giving birth to his first child.
Here's the link to an article on Brady's story in the Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/08/23/its_a_boy_for_bridget_moynahan_and_tom_brady/
Of course what Michael Vick did was bad, but if there is any such thing as chastity--if there is any standard of sexual decency and any value in a man and woman actually trying to live as husband and wife to the child they give birth to, then what Brady did was worse. I'm not saying either of these men should be demonized for their mistakes (though many have not hesitated to demonize Vick). I just can't understand why dog fighting is seen as such a perverse thing while fathering a child from philandering is smiled upon?
MM
