Silver Ring Thing

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Silver Ring Thing

Silver Ring Thing is a US-based sexual abstinence program which encourages young adults to remain sexually celibate until marriage. Based on conservative Christian theology and until recently (see below) funded by the U.S. federal government, SRT uses rock concert-like events (the "Thing" in Silver Ring Thing) to try 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 show, they receive their silver rings inscribed with Bible verses, which are usually worn on the third 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.

1 History
2 Criticism of SRT
3 Sources
4 See also
5 External link

[edit] 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 founders saw as American culture's unhealthy obsession with sex, which, according to Pattyn, was a byproduct of the “promiscuity [of] the sexual revolution of the ‘60s”.

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 by 2010.

Initially, SRT was funded entirely by private sources, but beginning in 2003, SRT began receiving money from the federal faith-based initiatives program. As of 2004, SRT has 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, others rejected and ridiculed SRT for being anti-sex. Critics have stated that it seems unlikely that abstinence programmes will attract widespread support in the UK because of the UK's different attitude to sexuality, 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.

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

In 2006, Silver Ring Thing decided not to continue using federal funding and to continue with their message.

[edit] Criticism of SRT

Critics of SRT argue that virginity pledges are an unrealistic approach to curbing teenage sexuality. These critics maintain that many teens will end up breaking their pledge and, when they do, lack the knowledge and contraceptive devices to protect themselves against STDs and pregnancy. Also, studies have shown that virginity pledges are ineffective as young adults who have made pledges are as likely to contract STD's as others and that they are less likely to use contraception when sexual encounters do take place (see virginity pledges). They also claim that because SRT favors Christianity over other belief systems, it should be ineligible for federal funding due to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. It is also cautioned that in order to preserve "virginity", teens may engage in sexual acts that do not penetrate the vagina, but may nonetheless spread STD's (such as oral or anal sex).

Another criticism concerns the fact that those who fail to keep the pledge are encouraged to remove the ring in respect of those who are successful. The concern is that by doing this the teenager reveals their behaviour publicly and thus removing the ring could become a social stigma that attracts feelings of shame and guilt.