Bristol Palin’s Break-Up with Levi Johnston

Date Published: 05/19/2009

What follows is a personal, pastoral perspective and emphatically not a political statement one way or another on Sarah Palin’s political career or positions, nor on abstinence only sex education. I definitely don’t want differing opinions on those issues to distract from my pastoral concern.

Bristol Palin is to be commended for graduating from high school, which many teen mothers either skip or delay. While I’m sure it is awkward and difficult, I think she is also to be commended for breaking up with and not getting married to Levi Johnston, the father of her child. I am not opposed to teen parents getting married, but in my years of pastoral ministry, I have seen a lot of negative outcomes from marriages compelled by wanting to “do the right thing.” I would suggest that “the right thing” is for the couple to be sure they have a solid basis for marriage beyond conceiving a child together. That can usually be best discerned a year or so after the baby is born. Pastorally, I generally discourage a rushed wedding for expectant teen couples before the baby is born.

During the presidential campaign I was occasionally asked for my opinion about Sarah Palin’s Vice-Presidential candidacy during Bristol’s pregnancy. Since as a pastor I avoid going public with my personal political opinions, I deferred as much as possible. Now that it has no political implications, perhaps I can be open about what I think I would have told Sarah Palin if I had been her pastor and she asked for my input. I would have suggested not running for Vice-President as a way to communicating to Bristol that she was a higher priority and more important than even such a significant career opportunity. I would suggest that at such a time giving family top attention will pay long-term benefits. Any number of people could be Vice-President of the United States but only Sarah could be Bristol’s mother. Without a doubt, these two young people and their families could have addressed these issues much more comfortably in the privacy of family and church than in the glare of global media attention of U.S. Presidential campaign.

Having said that, crises come and life goes on. So I wouldn’t have suggested that Sarah Palin resign as Governor of Alaska. However, she would certainly have needed to make some adjustments. One of the important lessons of life is learning how to keep moving forward, making course corrections without getting derailed when events take an unexpected or unwelcome turn.