Christian Teens Plan 'Day Of Purity' For Valentines Day

[matcom]

<snip>

High school sophomore Ally Hall plans to exchange cards with her friends on Valentine's Day. But her true tribute to the romance of the season will come today, in the principal's office at Lebanon High School in the small town of Lebanon, Ohio.

Hall has written a brief script to be read over the publicaddress system. Her message: The most romantic way to celebrate Feb. 14 is to honor it as a "Day of Purity," by pledging to remain chaste until marriage.

"People say, 'Don't you get made fun of? Don't your friends think you're weird?' " said Hall, 15. "But if I can stand up for saving sex for marriage, it gives them a choice. They think, 'If she can do it, I can do it too.' "

Hundreds of teenagers across the country will join Hall in wearing white this Valentine's Day to signal a commitment to abstinence. The Day of Purity was started three years ago by the Liberty Counsel, a Christian law firm in Orlando, Fla. This year, it has backing from the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Teens from about 200 schools and about 800 youth groups plan to participate, said Rena Lindevaldsen, a lawyer who put aside her customary work of litigating against same-sex marriage to coordinate the day's activities. She's encouraging teens to download and sign chastity pledges — and to spread the word with posters in the school cafeteria, letters to the local paper, and free handouts of white bracelets and T-shirts.

In Miami, a nonprofit group called Abstinence Between Strong Teens will hold rallies at two public schools. In Cedarville, Ohio, teen girls who attended a church-sponsored Purity Conference over the weekend will distribute literature at school.

And in Ewing, Ky., 13-year-old Kirsten Bryant plans to wear a Day of Purity T-shirt to her annual Valentine's Day Bible study with friends. "I'm a big purity fan," she said. "I really like standing up for God's way."

Launched in the early 1990s, the teen abstinence movement has grown sharply in recent years, in part because abstinence education has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.

Dozens of websites sell rings, key chains, pendants — even watches and visors — embossed with messages to remind teens of their commitment to abstinence.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-purity13feb13,0,6392983.story?coll=la-news-a_section

[PittPoliSci]

1. they should allow a dissenting opinion to be read.

"Boy, I can't wait to get home tonight, because I am going to do the least 'pure' things I can think of. Even if I don't have sex tonight, I'm still going to rub one out in the shower, or perhaps in the kitchen after everyone's gone to bed."

[CatholicEdHead]

2. Valenties Day does not equal Sexual Encounter

That is a big leap of logic if you belive that it always does.

[matcom]

3. always has in my house

:D

:hide:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

27. I once sent a valentine to a female friend

and she took it entirely the wrong way. :blush:

[redwitch]

4. oh goody

those realists, the abstinence only crowd. :eyes:

[jobycom]

5. Good for her. At 15. When she's older, she can change her mind.

Though I'm not sure what that all has to do with purity.

[nemo137]

6. I'll be participatng in this, but not by choice.

The least pure thing I do will be drinking myself into a stupor and then passing out with an unlit cigarette in my mouth because I'm too lazy to find my shoes to go out and smoke.

But if anyone would like to share it with me, I'm sure it'd be way romantic.

[jane_pippin]

7. We'll pick up the slack at our house.

:D



Really though, I'm all for young teens holding off on it. My little cousin is apparently sexually active and I wish she wasn't but there's not much I can do about it. I do wish they wouldn't be so fucking self-righteous about it, and I hate that it's such a money making machine too.

[mzteris]

8. Not a bad message,

really. I just don't think it has to be wrapped up in the "Christian" package to impress upon teens that "waiting" is better than not waiting.

I'd be more impressed if the stats didn't show that "abstinence pledges" don't work:

". . . Signatures on most sexual-abstinence commitment cards may not be worth the paper they are written on, according to a recent study. A survey by Northern Kentucky University revealed that 61 percent of students who made abstinence promises broke them. And of those who said they kept their pledges, 55 percent indicated they participated in oral sex.

The survey queried 597 Northern Kentucky students, 16 percent of whom made pledges not to have sex until marriage. The study noted, however, that pledge-breakers delayed sex for a year longer than nonpledging teens--until an average of 17.6 years old. But pledge-makers who became pledge-breakers were less likely to use protection, such as condoms, when first having sex.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_26_1...


(edit to fix when I hit post instead of paste. duh. )

[Jamastiene]

12. I didn't make a big deal about it but

I waited, although not by my choice. All I can say is that I would have enjoyed the experience so much better had I done it at a time when it was normal to start doing it instead of feeling so awkward later in life. That sucked. Waiting ain't all it's cracked up to be. I agree with you though that the stats do seem to prove that teaching them the abstinence only route leads them down a destructive path toward unsafe sex whereas teaching them the truth about diseases and what will and will not lead to pregnancy would be a way better idea. If I had a kid, I would be more worried if they did it without knowing how to practice safe sex than if they did it at all.

[mzteris]

16. Here's what I told my daughter

and will tell my boys . . .

"I hope you're wise enough to wait, and if not, then you have to be smart enough to protect yourself."


I talked to my daughter a lot about how "her first time" should be special. Not drunk. Not in some car. Not with some jerk. Not with some guy she'd break up with the next month. That there would never ever be another "first time". And that waiting for it to BE something special WITH SOMEONE special - was definitely worth waiting for.

I can't take all the credit, though. She had friends who told her they didn't really "like having to 'do it'" but they did 'cause their boyfriends expected. And that had a big impact on her, too.

Well, that and I had another baby when she was thirteen - and that was the BEST "birthcontrol" ever.

Oh - and - she was really really afraid I would KILL her if she did and I caught her.

:rofl:

[Jamastiene]

9. More power to her, if that is what she wants, but I still say

this whole abstinence thing is unnatural. Nature puts the hormones in place and really dictates when it's time, not will power. They can try the abstinence route, but I would prefer they get the education about how not to end up preggers and/or diseased anyhow, just in case. That way if they do start acting like normal teens, they won't get hurt.

[matcom]

11. it is only cause she and her pals are ugly

they can't get dates anyway so this gives them some self-worth :hide:

j/k

[Jamastiene]

14. Good one.

You just ensured some real numbers for this thread. Props for the skill. :P

:popcorn:

[matcom]

15. did i mention they were all FAT as well?

i bet it's true :D

:yoiks:

[TheMightyFavog]

23. Hoo, boy...

Break out the Nomex, people, It's going to get hot in here.

[ghostsofgiants]

26. THAT'S what I need to do! Become and abstinent Christian!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. I don't have a problem with abstinence...

But I don't understand the need to brag about either abstinence or promiscuity.

[Jamastiene]

13. Good point.

It's like they are trying to create a movement to satisfy some adults in their lives and being used as tools in this whole morality war in the country. Somewhere, I would be willing to bet some key repukes are behind the preachy aspect of the abstinence movement.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

17. To be sure.

Wasn't that one of Dumbyass' pet projects before 9/11?

[Jamastiene]

20. I believe so. If I remember correctly, he mentioned it even before

he disenfanchised Florida and Missouri voters to perform his coup d'etat back in 2000.

[TimeChaser]

30. True, I've never seen anyone given a hard time about choosing abstinence,

unless they were being a condescending asshole about it

[skygazer]

18. Nothing wrong with not rushing into being sexually active but

"standing up for God's way"?

Refresh me on my Bible - were Adam and Eve married? What about the guy who did it with his daughters? Just wondering.....

[Left Is Write]

24. I agree. Calling it a "Day of Purity" also rubs me the wrong way...

if you'll pardon an unintended double entendre.

I don't like tying "purity" (read: goodness and worthiness; "cleanness") to whether a teenager has been sexually active or not.

Overall, I don't mind encouraging kids to wait until they're older (not necessarily married) to have sex, but I mind the accompanying self-righteousness.

[no name no slogan]

19. In honor of this thread, I'm gonna go rub one out right now

hope my coworkers don't mind

[Initech]

21. Great, Falwell's endorsing it gives it added puke factor.

:puke:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

22. Well, if Falwell's for it.....

What else needs to be said?? I mean, SERIOUSLY. Since WHEN does Valentine's Day=automatic time in the sack?

We DON'T need to flaunt abstinence OR sexual promiscuity.

[trof]

25. Onward, Christian Soldiers.

Marching as to war.
Shooting down the straw men.
That's what you are for.

[mzteris]

28. You mean

TROJAN soldiers, doncha?

:hide:

[Dave Reynolds]

29. Do blowjobs count?

Just curious...