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Silver Ring Thing

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Silver Ring Thing logo
File:Sringthing.jpg
Example silver ring

Silver Ring Thing is a United States-based virginity pledge program which encourages teens and young adults to remain celibate until marriage. Based on Christian theology[1] and until 2005 funded by the U.S. federal government,[2] SRT uses rock/hip hop concert-style events in an attempt to appeal to 21st century teenagers.

SRT events feature high-energy music, club-style lighting and sound, music videos, sketch comedy, and a faith-based abstinence message. During the gathering, participants commit to a vow of sexual abstinence until marriage by purchasing rings.

Shortly before the end of the event, they receive their silver rings inscribed with Bible verses, which are usually worn on the ring finger of the left hand. The verse is First Thessalonians 4:3-4 and it states "God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin. Then each of you will control your body and live in holiness and honor." The rings are tokens of their vow, a reminder of their decision to remain celibate. The rings also are a way to signal to others that they are pledged to celibacy. After they put on their rings, they take a vow to remain abstinent.

History

Silver Ring Thing was created in 1995 by Denny Pattyn, an evangelical Christian youth minister from Yuma, Arizona, as a way to combat what he saw as rising rates of STDs and pregnancies amongst teenagers, as well as a way to protect teens from what the founders saw as a distinctly American[3] obsession with unhealthy (in opposition to biblical standards) sex, which, according to Pattyn,[This quote needs a citation] was a byproduct of the “promiscuity [of] the sexual revolution of the ‘60s”.[4]

In 2000, Pattyn became Executive Director of the John Guest Evangelistic Team of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, and SRT became part of the national outreach of the John Guest Team.

SRT claims to have won pledges of chastity of more than 25,000 young adults since its inception, and Pattyn has stated that SRT plans to have rings on the fingers of 2 million youngsters by 2010.[5]

Initially, SRT was funded entirely by private sources, but beginning in 2003, SRT began receiving money from the federal faith-based initiatives program. By 2004, SRT had received more than US $1,100,000 in U.S. government federal funding.

In 2004, SRT began expanding operations into the United Kingdom, with mixed results. While some teens in the UK embraced the message of abstinence, some critics rejected and ridiculed SRT, claiming it was anti-sex or unrealistic, and have stated that it seems unlikely that abstinence programs will attract widespread support in the UK because of the UK's different attitude about sexuality and sex education, but the group's Assistant National Director for the UK, Denise Pfeiffer, says there is a real need for such a movement in the UK to curb what she sees as the ever-increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancies, both of which she claims are the highest in Western Europe.[6][7]

US

In 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services because it believed SRT used tax dollars to promote Christianity.[8] SRT presented a two-part program, the first part about abstinence; the second about how The Christian Faith fits into an abstinence commitment. The ACLU claimed federal funding given to this program violated the separation of Church and State.

On August 22, the department suspended SRT's $75,000 federal grant until it submitted a "corrective action plan".[9]

In 2006, a corrective action plan was accepted by the department, the lawsuit was dismissed and SRT received its Federal Funding.

United Kingdom

In 2007 a 16 year old girl, Lydia Playfoot, from Horsham, West Sussex, United Kingdom took a case to the High Court of Justice alleging that her school had violated her rights under Articles Nine (Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion) and Fourteen (Prohibition of Discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is incorporated into UK Law by the Human Rights Act.

In mid 2006, the school had instructed Playfoot and several other girls associated with her, not to wear the ring in school as it breached the school's established uniform code, and they did not consider it a symbol integral to religious beliefs.[10]

It was later revealed that the girl's parents and grandfather are directly involved in the UK branch of Silver Ring Thing, casting doubt on whether Miss Playfoot herself decided to launch her case or whether she was driven to do so by family pressure. Heather Playfoot, her mother, is the company secretary of Silver Ring Thing (UK) Ltd and her father and pastor/elder of the Kings Church (Horsham), Phil Playfoot, is the company's Parents Programme Director. Andy Robinson, a former sales director for an international software company, youth pastor at Kings Church (Horsham) and the official promoter, distributor and Managing Director of Silver Ring Thing (UK) Ltd has been identified as the author of a press statement issued in the name of Miss Playfoot following the High Court hearing.[11]

On July 16, 2007 the High Court ruled that the girl was not having her human rights violated. Her father was ordered by the court to pay £12,000 towards the school's costs, even though the action had been commenced in his daughter's name. The case was funded by individual donations gathered through the group Christian Concern For Our Nation.[12] It is claimed that no public appeal was made, although sympathetic members of Kings Church Horsham were asked to contribute to a fighting fund. Lydia Playfoot, at 16, had left the school, and started to attend a local college.

The SRT has been parodied in the TV comedies Family Guy and South Park, in the "Prick Up Your Ears and "The Ring" episodes respectively.[citation needed]

In an episode of the TV series The War at Home, titled 'Like a Virgin', there is a character who is a member of the "Silver Ring Society" and wears a silver ring while pledging abstinence.[citation needed] In the comedy horror film Teeth, the main character wears a purity ring and is a teenage spokesperson for a Christian abstinence group called The Promise.[citation needed]

The Jonas Brothers wear these rings.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Silver Ring Thing". Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  2. ^ Connolly, Ceci (2005-08-23). "Federal Funds For Abstinence Group Withheld". The Washington Post. Katharine Weymouth. Retrieved 2010-07-11. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ Bradley, Ed (2005-09-18). "Taking The Pledge". 60 Minutes. CBS News Productions. Retrieved 2008-08-26. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ Cynthia, Cooper L. (2005-06-05). "ACLU: Fed Chastity Program Ringed With Religion". Women's eNews. Women's eNews Inc. Retrieved 2008-08-26. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Lumsden, Michael (November 2003). "American Virgins". BBC World News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2008-08-26. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ Zoepf, Katherine (2004-07-07). "A Plea for Chastity, but Will It Play in Randy Britain?". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2008-08-26. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ Rice-Oxley, Mark (2004-06-23). "US charity crusade gest cool response in secular Britain". The Christian Science Monitor. Christian Science Publishing Society. Retrieved 2008-08-26. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. ^ American Civil Liberties Union : ACLU of Massachusetts v. Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  9. ^ Sostek, Anya (2006-02-24). "Abstinence group loses federal grant over 1st Amendment". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. John Robinson Block. Retrieved 2008-08-26. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  10. ^ High Court hears case for 'Silver Ring Thing'
  11. ^ Ministry of Truth » Blog Archive » Silver Bling Thing
  12. ^ 'Chastity ring' girl loses case, July 16, 2007, BBC News
  13. ^ "Jonas Brothers: We are all virgins". US Magazine. February 22, 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-31. [dead link]

Further reading

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