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ANALYSIS

Can a silver ring help
teenagers say 'no'?

FIONA VEITCH SMITH looks at the Silver Ring Thing - the imported US programme aimed at preaching abstinence and making chastity cool for teenagers

THE British media have dubbed it the ‘new American virginity cult’; now it’s come to our shores and people are taking notice. BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 4 and Channel 4’s Richard and Judy have all given prime spots to the Silver Ring Thing, and the phone lines have been buzzing.

“I find it quite strange that this American organisation should come to Britain and preach. Don’t they understand how multicultural this country is? Saying ‘Oh God says this is the way it has to be’ is not going to carry any weight for the people of other or no religion, is it?” asks ‘evil giraffe’ on the Radio 2 website following a discussion on the Jeremy Vine Show.

“I don’t think it will work in England,” says a young woman in a vox pop conducted by the Richard & Judy Show. Richard himself chips in with: “But will it work in bawdy Britain? It’s different from the States where Christianity is more fundamentalist.”

But this is just one side of the story. Since the BBC2 documentary American Virgins was aired earlier this year, the offices of the Silver Ring Thing (SRT) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have been inundated with over 300 e-mails from Britons asking the team to come the the UK.

It’s been given the nod by local abstinence programmes as well. Dr Richard Barr, director of Love for Life, Northern Ireland says: “The concept behind Silver Ring Thing is a positive one. I don’t know enough about the specific programme to comment on that, particularly how the American style will transpose to the British context, but it highlights to policy-makers the need to support kids to delay sex. All the media hype around the Silver Ring Thing in the secular press is encouraging discussion between parents and kids and this is incredibly positive.

“But in the end it’s the kids who will be the judge of whether it’s a success or not. They will accept it or reject it. And if they accept it, they will be the ones to carry it forward and create pressure for policy-makers to respond.”

Dr Chris Richards of Lovewise in Newcastle upon Tyne comments: “The tour will allow young people around the country to hear something that they may never have heard before. They will hear that keeping sex for that committed relationship of marriage is physically healthy, emotionally wise and morally right. I will be praying that many of those attending will decide to make that pledge of virginity until marriage. Through such decisions their marriages will be blessed, our society will be stronger and, most importantly, God will be honoured as his ways are respected.”

Denny Pattyn, founder of SRT, took time out of his promotional tour to speak to the Christian Herald. “Our goal is to saturate communities. We are trying to create task forces and community groups in strategic cities. The goal is to do enough of these shows that a significant number of schools in the community have students wearing rings. It is a situation where abstinence becomes the norm rather than the exception.”

Parents are also included in the programme with dedicated pre-show seminars that inform them of the pressures their children are up against, and give them practical tips on how to talk to kids about sex.

The ring (sold at the shows for £10) is central to the SRT programme. At the end of a presentation, young people are invited to pledge their abstinence and wear a ring. They are encouraged to wear it until their wedding night, when they will replace it with a gold one and have sex (hopefully) for the first time.

Denny explains the significance: “When temptation comes, you look down on your finger and you remember the years of wearing it and you walk away from temptation. That’s the power of the ring. And that’s the power of the Silver Ring Thing.”

A 12-step follow-up programme that includes e-mail support, accountability partners, and ‘group dating’ weekends, ensures that this is not just a hit and run exercise.

“We work really hard in following up with each young person, saturating their life. We go after their friends, their community, their church, their family … so that they are able to stay abstinent,” says Denny.

A 30-strong team of what the BBC 2 documentary calls ‘hardcore young virgins’ will fly into Britain to present the shows, working alongside British youngsters who will hopefully continue with the programme when the Americans go back over the Pond.

The SRT tour is being hosted by churches in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Belfast and Dublin. The high-octane, teen-friendly road show preaches the message through music, drama and personal testimony, and will kick off on 23 June with a concert by Rebecca St James, and end in Manchester on, suitably, 4 July.

Church or other groups of five or more people are encouraged to pre-register with the contacts given on the SRT website.

More info:

www.silverringthing.com
www.loveforlife.org.uk
e-mail: info@lovewise.org.uk

Fiona Veitch Smith is a journalist based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Pledging isn't enough

MARGARET STOREY looks behind the hype, and finds it’s dangerous to over-estimate the effectiveness of Christian abstinence initiatives

ALTHOUGH faith-based abstinence programmes, like The Silver Ring Thing, have been overwhelmingly welcomed by churches and conservative political groups in the United States, the mainstream press has been sounding an alarming warning about the problems of abstinence pledges.

While many Christians may be tempted to dismiss what the media has to say, when it appears to contradict what the Church believes about matters of life and faith (while joyously embracing those media statistics that seem to back up Christian faith), those concerned about sexual behaviour among young people can't afford to ignore recent studies on the high number of young people who break their abstinence promises.

Two major studies, by Columbia University and Yale University, followed up 12,000 young people who had pledged to remain virgins until they were married, and found:

88% of those who made a public pledge had sex before marriage - only 12% kept the pledge
The rate of sexually transmitted diseases was virtually the same among those who had made the pledge and those who hadn’t
A much higher rate of abstinence-pledging young people had unprotected sex without a condom (60%) as opposed to the general population (40%)
Although the abstinence pledge did not seem to stop most young people from having pre-marital sex, it did mean they waited longer before becoming sexual active – by 18 months on average
When large numbers of school students made the promise together – 30% or more of the student body – the failure rate was much higher than when those who made the pledge were a smaller minority

Critics of the Silver Ring Thing also point out it is easy to make a promise in a high-pressure environment with pounding music, flashy videos, high-tech lighting displays, and hundreds of teenagers pledging together in unison and cheering each other on – but it is far harder to follow up the promise in daily life.

According to the Silver Ring Thing website, long-term commitment and follow up is essential for helping young people keep their promise and the programme "only succeeds where parents, schools, churches, youth leaders, and, of course, teenagers, commit to working together".

Despite a popular view that Americans are more sexually moral than the British, the United States has a much higher teen pregnancy rate than the UK (more than double) and the highest rate of teen pregnancy, birth and abortion in the industrialised world.
The teen pregnancy rate in America has dropped in recent years, although there is fierce debate among religious and political groups as to who can take the credit.
Margaret Storey is a reporter/sub-editor with Christian Herald

© Christian Family Network
is run by CPO, supported by
Care for the Family, Marriage Resource, Positive Parenting,
Care, Women Alive, Christian Herald and many others.


		ANALYSIS Can a silver ring help teenagers say 'no'? FIONA VEITCH SMITH looks at the Silver Ring Thing - the imported US programme aimed at preaching abstinence and making chastity cool for teenagers THE British media have dubbed it the ‘new American virginity cult’; now it’s come to our shores and people are taking notice. BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 4 and Channel 4’s Richard and Judy have all given prime spots to the Silver Ring Thing, and the phone lines have been buzzing. “I find it quite strange that this American organisation should come to Britain and preach. Don’t they understand how multicultural this country is? Saying ‘Oh God says this is the way it has to be’ is not going to carry any weight for the people of other or no religion, is it?” asks ‘evil giraffe’ on the Radio 2 website following a discussion on the Jeremy Vine Show. “I don’t think it will work in England,” says a young woman in a vox pop conducted by the Richard & Judy Show. Richard himself chips in with: “But will it work in bawdy Britain? It’s different from the States where Christianity is more fundamentalist.” But this is just one side of the story. Since the BBC2 documentary American Virgins was aired earlier this year, the offices of the Silver Ring Thing (SRT) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have been inundated with over 300 e-mails from Britons asking the team to come the the UK. It’s been given the nod by local abstinence programmes as well. Dr Richard Barr, director of Love for Life, Northern Ireland says: “The concept behind Silver Ring Thing is a positive one. I don’t know enough about the specific programme to comment on that, particularly how the American style will transpose to the British context, but it highlights to policy-makers the need to support kids to delay sex. All the media hype around the Silver Ring Thing in the secular press is encouraging discussion between parents and kids and this is incredibly positive. “But in the end it’s the kids who will be the judge of whether it’s a success or not. They will accept it or reject it. And if they accept it, they will be the ones to carry it forward and create pressure for policy-makers to respond.” Dr Chris Richards of Lovewise in Newcastle upon Tyne comments: “The tour will allow young people around the country to hear something that they may never have heard before. They will hear that keeping sex for that committed relationship of marriage is physically healthy, emotionally wise and morally right. I will be praying that many of those attending will decide to make that pledge of virginity until marriage. Through such decisions their marriages will be blessed, our society will be stronger and, most importantly, God will be honoured as his ways are respected.” Denny Pattyn, founder of SRT, took time out of his promotional tour to speak to the Christian Herald. “Our goal is to saturate communities. We are trying to create task forces and community groups in strategic cities. The goal is to do enough of these shows that a significant number of schools in the community have students wearing rings. It is a situation where abstinence becomes the norm rather than the exception.” Parents are also included in the programme with dedicated pre-show seminars that inform them of the pressures their children are up against, and give them practical tips on how to talk to kids about sex. The ring (sold at the shows for £10) is central to the SRT programme. At the end of a presentation, young people are invited to pledge their abstinence and wear a ring. They are encouraged to wear it until their wedding night, when they will replace it with a gold one and have sex (hopefully) for the first time. Denny explains the significance: “When temptation comes, you look down on your finger and you remember the years of wearing it and you walk away from temptation. That’s the power of the ring. And that’s the power of the Silver Ring Thing.” A 12-step follow-up programme that includes e-mail support, accountability partners, and ‘group dating’ weekends, ensures that this is not just a hit and run exercise. “We work really hard in following up with each young person, saturating their life. We go after their friends, their community, their church, their family … so that they are able to stay abstinent,” says Denny. A 30-strong team of what the BBC 2 documentary calls ‘hardcore young virgins’ will fly into Britain to present the shows, working alongside British youngsters who will hopefully continue with the programme when the Americans go back over the Pond. The SRT tour is being hosted by churches in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Belfast and Dublin. The high-octane, teen-friendly road show preaches the message through music, drama and personal testimony, and will kick off on 23 June with a concert by Rebecca St James, and end in Manchester on, suitably, 4 July. Church or other groups of five or more people are encouraged to pre-register with the contacts given on the SRT website. More info: www.silverringthing.com www.loveforlife.org.uk e-mail: info@lovewise.org.uk Fiona Veitch Smith is a journalist based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne Pledging isn't enough MARGARET STOREY looks behind the hype, and finds it’s dangerous to over-estimate the effectiveness of Christian abstinence initiatives ALTHOUGH faith-based abstinence programmes, like The Silver Ring Thing, have been overwhelmingly welcomed by churches and conservative political groups in the United States, the mainstream press has been sounding an alarming warning about the problems of abstinence pledges. While many Christians may be tempted to dismiss what the media has to say, when it appears to contradict what the Church believes about matters of life and faith (while joyously embracing those media statistics that seem to back up Christian faith), those concerned about sexual behaviour among young people can't afford to ignore recent studies on the high number of young people who break their abstinence promises. Two major studies, by Columbia University and Yale University, followed up 12,000 young people who had pledged to remain virgins until they were married, and found: 88% of those who made a public pledge had sex before marriage - only 12% kept the pledge The rate of sexually transmitted diseases was virtually the same among those who had made the pledge and those who hadn’t A much higher rate of abstinence-pledging young people had unprotected sex without a condom (60%) as opposed to the general population (40%) Although the abstinence pledge did not seem to stop most young people from having pre-marital sex, it did mean they waited longer before becoming sexual active – by 18 months on average When large numbers of school students made the promise together – 30% or more of the student body – the failure rate was much higher than when those who made the pledge were a smaller minority Critics of the Silver Ring Thing also point out it is easy to make a promise in a high-pressure environment with pounding music, flashy videos, high-tech lighting displays, and hundreds of teenagers pledging together in unison and cheering each other on – but it is far harder to follow up the promise in daily life. According to the Silver Ring Thing website, long-term commitment and follow up is essential for helping young people keep their promise and the programme "only succeeds where parents, schools, churches, youth leaders, and, of course, teenagers, commit to working together". Despite a popular view that Americans are more sexually moral than the British, the United States has a much higher teen pregnancy rate than the UK (more than double) and the highest rate of teen pregnancy, birth and abortion in the industrialised world. The teen pregnancy rate in America has dropped in recent years, although there is fierce debate among religious and political groups as to who can take the credit. Margaret Storey is a reporter/sub-editor with Christian Herald © Christian Family Network is run by CPO, supported by Care for the Family, Marriage Resource, Positive Parenting, Care, Women Alive, Christian Herald and many others.