Ben Higgins, the 20th contestant of "The Bachelor," shares many qualities with his predecessors of the matchmaking show: He's young, good-looking and trying to find "the one" — all items on a checklist the show will check off and tease viewers with as female contestants compete for attention and, ideally, a ring.
But there's a big part of Higgins' identity viewers won't see played up so much for the cameras: his strong evangelical faith.
Despite Higgins openly blogging about prayer, relying on the guidance of God while on the show and telling interviewers he hopes to wind up with a woman who shares his faith, the show majorly downplays Higgins' faith, as Slate contributor Ruth Graham reported.
"On the show itself, spirituality gets only the most fleeting, veiled references and dog whistles," Graham wrote. "Higgins told Us Weekly recently that he wants 'a woman (who has) a similar faith as I do.' In the 'Bachelor' universe, however, the qualities that qualify a partner for marriage are much vaguer."
And that's too bad, not just for Higgins and his prospective mate, but for the wider audience of "The Bachelor," because religious faith is a big part of life for most Americans — and one that often changes, as The New York Times pointed out, citing Naomi Shaefer Riley's 2013 book, "Til Faith Do Us Part."
"Early on, a difference in faith may seem unimportant and an occasion for practicing tolerance, while a difference over same-sex marriage or global warming or gun control may seem intractable and full of future hazard," Times contributor Stanley Fish cautioned. "But faith,' Riley insists, 'is a tricky thing and it sneaks up on people,' especially at significant moments when the pull of old loyalties supposedly outgrown reasserts itself."
In omitting a conversation about faith from its airwaves, "The Bachelor" is missing a chance at a more meaningful conversation about love, marriage and commitment.
"(Religion) deserves better than the cutting-room floor because it intersects with values, culture and intellectual and social interests — all things a person might hope to share with a spouse," Graham pointed out. "What could be more 'authentic' than letting viewers in on the conversation?"
Email: chjohnson@deseretnews.com
Twitter: ChandraMJohnson