The purity ring: Are we taking expression of faith too far?

Lydia Playfoot, a 16 yr old girl who was banned by her school for wearing a “purity ring” is taking her school, Millais School in Horsham in West Sussex, to the High Court. Lydia, a member of the Silver Ring Thing Christian group wears a silver ring engraved with a Biblical reference- “1 Thes 434” St. Paul’s Letter to the Thessalonians- as a sign of their belief in abstinence from sex till marriage. She claims that her school is breaching her human rights by preventing her from wearing the ring, while allowing Muslim and Sikh students to wear headscarfs and religious bangles.

While it can be argued that using such a ring as an expression of faith is part of the right to express oneself, it is also becoming apparent that expressions such as these are the beginnings of fads that eventually burn out and do not sustain the goal for which they were started.

The purity ring is just one of many endeavours by some Christians to stay true to bible principles inline with purity until marriage. In Uganda, pro-purity organisations have pushed for the “True love waits” campaign in a bid to help young people find esteem, appreciate the gift of virginity and to stand in the face of peer pressure.

However in world that is highly visual and brand conscious, it increasingly becomes hard to actually pick up and stick to the singular concept that such belief expressions are trying to put across.

It is a tenacious situation because just like any other religious group, Christians will use popularly used mass media channels to get their message across but by adopting such measures they become ‘just like everyone else”.

Not more than a year ago, it became a fad to wear wrist bands that carried specific messages like “Arsenal forever”, ‘Peace”, “Unity”, “Tranquillity”, “Club Silk” and “Celtel Africa Challenge”

This fad was so powerful that the Christian community did not escape it, bands reading “W.W.J.D” (What Would Jesus Do), “F.R.O.G”(Fully Rely On God), “D.O.G” (Depend on God) and “P.U.S.H” (Pray Until Something Happens) became the boldest form of expressing belief, encouraging oneself in times of dire need and identifying with people of the same belief system.

Expressions like the purity ring eventually get swollen up by the bigger, brighter and more repetitive adverts and soon no one will even remember what the purity ring was about to begin with. Does this solve Lisa’s problem? Does this help protect young innocents, keeping them pure till they get married?

An expression of faith is at best that, just an expression. It is a basic human right to express oneself, but the impact of the message of that expression should be weighed against fading into oblivion and becoming just another fad.