Who's equally yoked with The Bachelorette?

I love catching a season of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette every now and then. I've been tuned in this season with Ashley since I caught the tail end of The Bachelor. In those last episodes, I thought she was a tad bit whiny. Easy for me to write as I watched in the comfort of my own home while she spilled out her heart in Africa and shared Brad's affections with two other women! That's why I've been happy to watch Ashley as The Bachelorette because it shows us more about the beautiful, accomplished woman she is, going through this process. I've been quite impressed (except for, uh hum, Bentley) at how she's made the journey and cannot wait to see the final episodes.

As for the show, I think there are a couple of things missing -- especially when it comes to the subject of equally yoked. I mean, they never discuss their careers (unless it's edited out or topic's taboo according to the rules) and more importantly, they never discuss their faith! What's up with that? Is it an intentional, politically-correct thing to possibly not alienate a wider, viewing audience?

Show rules aside, I've recently played out the scenarios in discussions with friends and will share them with you. In the last episode, we saw J.P.'s mom pull out the Bar Mitzvah poster photo (too cute!). Now we know that J.P. comes from the Jewish faith. Seeing Constantine and clan in action, we can deduce he's Greek Orthodox a la My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Ben, well, based on the Sonoma locale; maybe a traditional religion like Lutheran or Presbyterian. What's Ashley's faith? I've seen no clues that would lead me to speculate, but here's the point. Fast forward 10 years.

Ashley and J.P. marry. Let's say she's Protestant and he's Jewish. They both agree to keep their own faith and practice each other's religion when it comes to the kids. They both respect each other's beliefs enough to make it work and it does. Or ... (yes dot dot dot Bentley style) let's say J.P.'s abandoned his faith and subsequently has no real interest in Ashley's beliefs. He thinks they're fine for her, but would rather skip out on the rituals for himself. She, on the other hand, wants her kids to share her beliefs. See where this is going? Now, let's pick Constantine and assume both celebrate Easter, Christmas and have similar type beliefs. Possibly the same with Ben. At a surface level, it could all work, but the yoke of the matter doesn't come from religious ties rather heart ties. When it comes to worshiping and serving God, does Ashley's heart tie equally with the man of her choice or are there a few strings broken as seen in my book Charlotte Marries a Vampire that could play an offbeat tune later on? 

Ashley's narrowed down her selection to three wonderful men (Go Ames for The Bachelor!) and from a viewer's standpoint, I don't see how she could go wrong with any of them. Only God knows the hearts of these young people and we can only pray that the two equally yoked, will be joined together. Then participants and viewers can live happily, ever after, which are my favorite kind of stories!

If you want to chime in with your thoughts, post a comment or email me at cheryl [at] sweetpicturefilms [only one dot] com. I'd love to hear your take. For more on equally yoked, check out my eBook.

p.s. A special request for the producers of the show -- get rid of the fantasy suite. It's just tacky - dot dot dot - need I say more!?