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(Michael Crabtree/The Times) Lydia Playfoot, who says her school is discriminating against her for banning her from wearing a purity ring (Michael Crabtree/The Times) The ring that Millais School banned Lydia Playfoot from wearing A teenage girl who was banned by her school from wearing a "purity ring" is taking her case to the High Court today. Lydia Playfoot, 16, is a member of a Christian group called the Silver Ring Thing and one of a number of students at the Millais School in Horsham, West Sussex, who wears a silver ring engraved with a Biblical reference — "1...

Sikh bracelets, but no Christian rings at school bans pupils from wearing 'purity rings' A group of teenage Christians have been banned by a secondary school from wearing "purity rings" as a symbol of their religious belief in chastity until marriage. At least one of the dozen pupils, who all attend the same girls' comprehensive in Horsham, West Sussex, is considering legal action against the Millais School for "a breach of human rights". Although the school allows Muslim and Sikh pupils to wear headscarves or kara bracelets as a means of religious expression, the purity ring - a small band...

The American Civil Liberties Union and Jenner & Block LLP applauded the federal government's decision today to suspend the flow of taxpayer dollars funding the Silver Ring Thing, a nationwide ministry that uses abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education as a means to bring "unchurched" students to Jesus Christ. "We are pleased that the Department of Health and Human Services today recognized that the Silver Ring Thing was blatantly misusing public dollars," said Julie Sternberg, a senior staff Attorney at the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. "As we have said all along, it is improper for the federal government to underwrite efforts to convert...

A range of clothing emblazoned with slogans promoting virginity until marriage is set to make its founder a millionaire. Wait Wear, an American company that sells to Britain over the internet, features £8 pants with "No vows, no sex" printed on the front, and £14 T-shirts bearing the phrase "No trespassing on this property: my father is watching", or the simple "I'm saving it!". The clothing is so popular that Wait Wear's founder and director, Yvette Thomas, expects turnover of more than £1 million this year - 250 times up on 2004. "The response has been overwhelming," said Miss Thomas,...

As hundreds of millions of tax dollars pour into chastity programs, the ACLU is tackling government support of one program in particular, the high-tech Silver Ring Thing, calling it old-fashioned religious indoctrination. Third in a series on religion. (WOMENSENEWS)--The Silver Ring Thing is a live three-hour, high-tech sound, light and video show complete with actors and comedy sketches with a stated mission to impress teens to promote teen chastity and so-called Christian values. The mobile shows--set up in churches, conference centers and other venues around the country--culminate with teens pledging abstinence until they present a silver ring that symbolizes their...

US chastity ring funding attacked The silver ring is a constant reminder of the abstinence promise The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the US government over its funding of a nationwide sexual abstinence programme.The ACLU says the Silver Ring Thing programme violates the principle that the state budget cannot be used to promote religion. The programme, which targets teenagers, is an offshoot of a Christian ministry. Since 2003, it has received more than $1m from the Department of Health and Human Services. Symbolic ringThe funding is part of a government initiative to expand abstinence-only sex...

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal court in Boston yesterday challenging the US government's funding of a faith-based abstinence program called the Silver Ring Thing, arguing that the public contribution of more than $1 million violates the constitutional separation of church and state. The nationwide initiative, which has held four events in the Boston area since 2002 and is planning more, urges middle school and high school students to forgo premarital sex and buy silver rings to symbolize their vow of abstinence. The three-hour events have drawn tens of thousands of young people since the program...

NEW YORK (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that the federal government has improperly used taxpayer dollars to fund Christian religious activities in a nationwide program called the Silver Ring Thing that uses music and comedy skits to promote premarital abstinence among teens. The Silver Ring Thing - which has held events in dozens of cities over the past five years - is an offshoot of the John Guest Evangelistic Team, a Christian ministry based in Sewickley, Pa. Since 2003, the program has received more than $1 million from the Department of Health and...

Peer pressure may not be as persuasive as the silver rings being worn by a group of teens as a reminder of their pledge to wait until marriage to start having sex, reports ABC news. According to the report, nearly 25,000 teens have taken the vow of chastity with the group, Silver Ring Thing. The ring, worn like a wedding ring to symbolize their vow of chastity, is "a constant reminder on the young person's hand that they've actually made a decision about this," Silver Ring Thing founder Denny Pattyn told Good Morning America. Kids "have a lot of information...