Silver Ring Thing

[[Image:PurityRing.jpg|right|thumb|165px|
Precious
 purity ring]]
{{Christianity}}
{{cquote|''A ring that says you'll be together but not have sex. Isn't that called a wedding ring?''|||Butters Stotch|''[[South Park]] (The Ring)''<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BxMEnOqX_I&feature=youtu.be Purity Ring]</ref>}}
'''Silver Ring Thing''' is a [[Christian]] organization that attempts to convince teenagers to [[abstinence|abstain]] from [[sex]] until [[marriage]]. It was founded in 1995 by Denny Pattyn, an evangelical Christian youth minister from [[Arizona]]. He [[Psychological projection|believed]] that modern society had developed an unhealthy obsession with sex, thanks to the "[[slut|promiscuity]]" of the sexual revolution of the 1960s,<ref>[http://redkingrising.wordpress.com/2007/02/08/the-morality-of-abstinence-only-sex-education/ Pattyn blames 1960s]</ref> and apparently had no idea of teenagers' attraction to forbidden things. He was also concerned that teenagers were at increasing risk of [[STDs]] and [[pregnancy]] as a result.

Those who take the pledge are given a silver "purity ring" inscribed with a [[bible|Biblical]] verse ({{bible|1 Thessalonians|4|3|4}}) to wear as an outward sign of their desire to remain "pure" until marriage.

==Success rates==
{{main|Abstinence programs}}

An 8-year study by researchers at Yale and Columbia universities has not only shown that public [[virginity]] pledges have little impact on STD rates, but it has also shown those having "taken the pledge" are more likely to [[Saddlebacking|experiment with oral and anal sex]], the reasoning (among pledges) being that only vaginal sex counts as "real" sex.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48509-2005Mar18.html</ref> This ingenious shift to upholding the letter, rather than the spirit, of their pledges is a heartening sign of teenagers' determination to get busy despite the earnest exhortations of their killjoy youth pastors.<ref group=note>The term ''demi-vierge'', meaning "virgin solely by a virtue of a very thin anatomical technicality", goes back for centuries and is particularly associated with [[Catholics]].</ref> Whether such actions reflect a similar inclination to follow the letter rather than the spirit of other articles of faith remains an open question.

==The ring as a religious symbol==
[[Image:SilverRing.jpg|thumb|left|An alternate "[[Sex toys#Cock rings|Silver Ring]]".]]
Silver Ring Thing has also spread across the Atlantic, becoming somewhat of a curiosity in the [[UK]] mainstream, but gaining a lot of acceptance and promotion among more overt Christian groups. In the most prominent case to hit the [[media]], 16-year old Lydia Playfoot went to the High Court to accuse her school of discriminating against Christians by banning the wearing of "purity rings".<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6229098.stm</ref> The case largely rested on the acceptance of the silver ring as a religious symbol which would exempt it from the school uniform policies. Since she was the daughter of one of the leaders of the UK branch, there was some speculation that the case was largely a promotional attempt &mdash; unsurprising as the [[Christian Legal Centre]] (CLC) also seemed to be involved.<ref>[http://www.christianlegalcentre.com/view.php?id=134 Christian Legal Centre &mdash; Statement released on behalf of Lydia Playfoot]</ref> The court ruling found in favour of the school and decided that the ring was actually a religious artifact.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6900512.stm</ref> Lydia's CLC released comment after the trial showed all the usual [[persecution complex]] hallmarks:

{{cquote|[[Slippery slope|Slowly, over time, people such as school governors, employers, political organizations and others will be allowed to stop Christians from publicly expressing and practising their faith]].}}

==What to do if you don't want to stay pure==
Wear a purity ring or a purity necklace for a date. Your boyfriend or girlfriend will see that as a challenge. That, or a sign that you'll be a virgin till you're in your 40s. Either way.

==A <strike>corundum</strike> conundrum==
Where on Earth did a bunch of married white guys get the idea that wearing a ring would be likely to make anyone less likely to have sex?

Oh, wait…

==See also==
*[[Abstinence ball]]
*[[Abstinence programs]]
*[[Celibacy]]
*[[Sex education]]
*[[Christian side hug]]

==External links==
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/3419693.stm BBC coverage of the organization]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20180108231212/https://www.silverringthing.com/ Archive of the Silver Ring Thing website], before their rebranding into Unaltered Ministries.
*[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1565 A great bit of snark] courtesy of [[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]. (Also, if you click the red dot thingy, you get a picture of a giraffe hooker. [[xkcd|Long story]].)

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Abstinence]]
[[Category:Fundamentalist Christian websites]]
[[Category:Moral absolutism]]
[[Category:Purity culture]]

Categories: Abstinence, Fundamentalist Christian websites, Moral absolutism, Purity culture