Free Republic

THE Church is facing another onslaught from film-makers. After the furore over The Da Vinci Code, it is now contending with an allegedly blasphemous account of the life of St Teresa of Ávila. Geraldine Chaplin heads the cast of Teresa: Death and Life, a feature film about one of the great Christian figures. The writings of the saint — a mystic who said that Christ conversed with her — are revered as spiritual masterpieces four centuries after her death. But film-makers don’t do spirituality as easily as sexuality and, in exploring the saint’s sex life, they find themselves accused of...

Millions of [young adults] nationwide, including male university students, have chosen to remain virgins until marriage. In doing so they unflinchingly clash head on with a modern day culture that implicitly condones free love. ... Men with piety are often presented as genderless beings a young man would never want to imitate. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the equally distorted concept of men who are macho. Such men see the loss of virginity as not only an acceptable but even a necessary step towards their deformed image of manhood. Sherif Girgis would be the first to disagree...

When Sarah Johnson hears kids talk about having oral sex, she’s surprised when they claim to be virgins. In her mind, they lose that distinction once they engage in such intimate behavior. But Johnson, 15, admits her views aren’t the norm. ... Johnson’s peers in the Black Hills seem to reflect the views of kids nationwide. A recent study showed that teens are having oral sex in high numbers and view it very casually. More than half of the kids surveyed, age 15 to 19, had already had oral sex, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The...

While one convention promoting sex wrapped up a weekend at the Colorado Convention Center on Sunday, another gathering that promoted abstinence drew some 4,000 people to the Denver Coliseum. The coincidence was not lost on Bob Lemming, the executive director of Pure By Choice, which organized the one-day event that featured hip-hop music, prayer and literature urging teens not to engage in pre-marital sex. Along Brighton Boulevard, within blocks of the Coliseum, a billboard advertised the "Sex and So Much More Show" at the Convention Center. "We're both talking about sex, but from a totally different perspective," said Lemming, who...

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,...

What is it with these right-wing Christians? Faced with a choice between sex and death, they choose death every time. No sex ed or contraception for teens, no sex for the unwed, no condoms for gays, no abortion for anyone--even for that poor 13-year-old pregnant girl in a group home in Florida. I would really like to hear the persuasive argument that this middle-schooler with no home and no family would have been better off giving birth against her will, and that the State of Florida, which totally failed to keep her safe, should have been allowed, against its own...

Hey Kids! Want Good Sex? Try Abstinence.Warren ThrockmortonAs a mental health counselor, I am really troubled by the numbers of adolescents that I have counseled who cried for days and hurt for years because they engaged in "safer sex" within dead end, unfulfilling relationships. Sadly, they learned that “safer sex” can be hazardous to their emotional health. I think the current political debate concerning abstinence vs. contraceptive based sexual education has failed to include an important variable in the discussion of what to teach in school: sexual well being. In many contemporary sexual education curricula, young boys and girls who...

Moroccan women undergo surgery for 'virginity' Reuters Rabat, October 4 Waiting for her turn at a private gynaecologist's clinic in the Moroccan capital, Nawal wanted to fix one last thing to ensure a perfect marriage of convenience.With the 2,500 dirhams she borrowed, she will undergo a surgical procedure that she hopes, will convince her new husband she is a virgin."My cousin asked to marry me believing I'm a virgin. I accepted because I need a husband. So we'll both get what we want," said the 26-year-old textile worker.The minor operation consists of hooking biodegradable suture clips on the hymen to...

Auctioning Off His Virginity British Teen Puts First Time Up for Auction on eBay These days you can put almost anything on sale on the Web, but a 19-year-old British student has pushed the boundaries one step further. David Vardy, a student at Bournemouth University on the south coast of England, has put his virginity up for sale on eBay. For Vardy, who said he doesn't have a serious girlfriend, this is the most creative way he thought he could get an opportunity to have his "first time." "By the age of 19, most people have been under enough pressure...

Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times Jasmine and Alberto, 16-year-old sweethearts in the Bronx, resolved early in their up-and-down romance to remain virgins. Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times Alberto has seen the hardships caused by teenagers having children. Jasmine also wants to postpone sex. Alberto and Jasmine are 16-year-old sweethearts, or were until that day in November when Jasmine, who planned to be a virgin until marriage, learned in the halls of DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx that Alberto was "messing around." She raged, she wept and she broke up with him. He apologized, he cried and she took...

Ding, Dong, The Witch is Dead: The Radio Debate of Gerry Matatics Against James White and Eric Svendsen on the Perpetual Virginity of Mary On November 18, 2003, Gerry Matatics debated James White and Eric Svendsen on the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, hosted by Alpha and Omega Ministries. Let me say first of all that besides his excellent arguments, Gerry Matatics conducted himself as a true Christian gentleman. James White and Eric Svendsen, on the other hand, spent much of the time screaming at Matatics, and accusing him of all kinds of motives and statements that simply were not true....

Amidst all the stimulating discussion here about the Catholic doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity, it ocurred to me that it would be instructive to point out that both Martin Luther and John Calvin -- the progenitors of two of the three major branches of the Protestant Reformation -- both held firmly to this Catholic teaching. For your consideration, let me add here some pertinent quotes from these two Protestant leaders. I'd respectfully ask our Evangelical and Fundamentalist friends here to think carefully about these quotes and consider just how far modern-day Protestantism has drifted from its 16th-century moorings, not to...

Luther, Calvin, and Other Early Protestants on the Perpetual Virginity of Mary All of the early Protestant Founders accepted the truth of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary. How could this be, if it is merely "tradition" with no scriptural basis? Why was its supposed violation of Scripture not so obvious to them, as it is to the Protestants of the last 150 years or so (since the onset of theological liberalism) who have ditched this previously-held opinion? Yet it has become fashionable to believe that Jesus had blood brothers (I suspect, because this contradicts Catholic teaching), contrary to the original...

For some teens, holidays set intimate mood Many youths going steady lose virginity in December, study shows 12/26/2002 Associated Press School's out for the holidays. Teens have got time on their hands - and perhaps even a crackling fire to set the mood. What are they planning for vacation? Apparently, losing their virginity is high on the list for those with significant others, according to researchers who reviewed data from a federal health survey. While June is the most common month for teens to have sex for the first time - be it in a casual summer fling or...

<p>Justin Timberlake has confirmed what many have long suspected about his relationship with Britney Spears: Pop music's biggest couple got it on, reports the New York Daily News.</p> <p>When the 'N Sync singer stopped by New York radio station Hot 97, the station's morning DJ, Troy Torain (aka Star), promised he'd play Timberlake's new single, "Like I Love You," 30 times a week if he'd tell just one secret.</p>