Heritage Academy in Hagerstown, Maryland holds its senior graduation ceremony this evening, and Maddi Runkles will not be among the students donning cap and gown. As most have heard by now, the Christian school is punishing Runkles, who is pregnant, because she violated the school’s morality code that prohibits premarital sex. Read the New York Times story here.
The controversy went national when Students for Life took up her cause. The pro-life organization contends Runkles is being “excessively and unfairly punished, more so than any other student, for breaking the moral code.” President Kristan Hawkins says Runkles should be praised for not getting an abortion.
“She made the courageous decision to choose life, and she definitely should not be shamed,” Hawkins told the New York Times. “There has got to be a way to treat a young woman who becomes pregnant in a graceful and loving way.”
Heritage administrator David Hobbs, in an open letter posted on the school’s website, argues that one kind of grace is the spiritual growth that demands effort on the part of the individual. “We love Maddi Runkles,” wrote Hobbs. “The best way to love her right now is to hold her accountable for her immorality that began this situation.”
Runkles admits she violated the student code, but she and her family say she has already been punished enough. The straight-A student was removed from her position as student council president and suspended for two days. She has been allowed to finish out the school year and receive her diploma. (The father of the unborn child is not a student at the school.)
Those who have called, emailed and texted me on the issue are split; half say Maddi broke the rules and should accept the punishment, while the other half believe the penalty is excessive and that she is being shamed.
Which is correct?
Heritage is a private school and Runkles did sign a pledge to abstain from premarital sex, alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs. However, if she had quietly gotten an abortion, no one would have known and her school year would have proceeded as usual.
Brad Wilcox, a sociologist at the University of Virginia who directs the National Marriage Project, told the Times the conundrum is the two competing values: “On one hand, the school is seeking to maintain some kind of commitment to what has classically been called chastity—or today might be called abstinence. At the same time, there’s an expectation in many Christian circles that we are doing all we can to honor life.”
The Maddi Runkles story is the latest incarnation of The Scarlet Letter. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel, protagonist Hester Prynne was forced to wear the bright red “A” after committing adultery. Prynne was a sinner, but also a victim because she was shamed and punished by her community.
Author John Updike said of Prynne, “I suppose she is the epitome of female predicaments.” And that’s where Runkles finds herself. As Heritage administrator Hobbs says, “Her immorality is the original choice she made that began this situation.” However, Hawkins from Students for Life argues Runkles decision to not get an abortion was virtuous.
Can a person simultaneously be immoral and virtuous?
Ultimately the Maddi Runkles story is not so much about tonight’s ceremony, but rather about the moral compass that each of us follows as we try to navigate the difficult decisions along life’s journey.