Schoolgirl fights for right to wear 'chastity ring'

[lyrasdaemon]

A 16 year-old girl is going to the High Court to gain the right to wear her 'chastity ring' at school. Read more here.

IMHO, this girl hasn't got a leg to stand on. The 'chastity ring' is not a Christian symbol, it is a symbol of a pledge made to remain sexually inactive until marriage, a pledge which can be made by those of all faiths and none. As the ring is not a uniquely Christian symbol, the girl's religious beliefs are not being discriminated against by being told she cannot wear it. For this very simple reason, the High Court should chuck out this case worthwith and tell the girl to get stuffed!!!

paulapb - yes, actually I know people whose marriages have foundered because of that. It is important to get it sorted out before, even if only in theory...

Have you read the BBC's piece about this? It includes the following:
"In a written statement to Deputy Judge Michael Supperstone QC, Miss Playfoot said young girls faced a "moral and ethical crisis" and that other teenage girls at her school had become pregnant. ... "The real reason for the extreme hostility to the wearing of the SRT purity ring is the dislike of the message of sexual restraint which is counter cultural and contrary to societal and governmental policy," she added."
Is this the genuine voice of a sixteen-year old, or is she just a poor little sockpuppet?

If the school is defending this then the tax payer will be picking up the bill regardless of if she is using legal aid. Seems such a pointless battle - there are so many more important things than wether you can wear a ring to school (and it's not as if she is likely to be having sex during school hours is it?)

the girl is very much a victim of her parents. She's at an all girls schoolso she's hardly going to be having pregnancy inducing sexin the corridor (how much same-sex esperimentation might be going on in the school is a totally different matter). It's just like the gruesome woman in the BA cross row: this isall about bigtory and shoving your viewpoint at other people.There are not any core religious texts that demand you wear things which inconvenience you or other people (wearing a symbol on a chain round your neck, under your clothes, or wearing a head covering, are not things which could endanger you). Demanding the right to strap a neon sign to your head which says "I have this many imaginary friends!" is a waste of everyone's time.

Unquietdad if bad sex could break a marriage up then I doubt it was terribly strong in the first place.

ppb - that's the same glib answer other people give, and it is so very untrue I'm afraid.

Lack of sex in a marriage can become a big thing eventually.

I've been told by a friend that it takes ten years for ones hymen to grow back....so errr we can all become born again virgins quite literally....not terribly sure if it's a scientific fact tho

I went to an all girls school also, catholic convent school. The nuns had a strict no jewellery rule and I'm damn sure that these rings would have been also banned on the grounds that they assumed good little catholic girls would never have done it outside marriage with or without a ring on!
(pmsl)

I don't think that hymens can grow back! sounds like porky pies to me

Oh and there was me thinking I was halfway there already!!!!

I don't see why this girl is any more a victim of her parents than any other child of people who believe in God. Lack of sex is a core belief, even if most Christians choose to ignore it.
She's probably quite enjoying all the attention, getting on telly and winding up her parents.

she isn't winding up her parents. They are encouraging her in this

Maybe winding up her teachers ?

Of course there isa non trivial chance that's she is going to wind up her parents, isn't there ?
Wait 6 months then go to Ibiza with her 25 yo boyfriend ?

IMO the chastity ring is NOT a true religious symbol. She is not required to wear it as part of her religious beliefs. Therefore no case IMO.

Of course its not a religious symbol. There are plenty of religions that don't beleive in sex before marriage, Catholic, Muslim are two, so therefore if you are a practising member of a church that doesn't beleive in s before m, you have not need to wear further accessories to proclaim your views on that subject. Rather like a catholic does not go round wearing badges denouncing contraception. (lapsed catholic, me).

Even if it is a true religious symbol, why should she be allowed to wear it if people who believe in say, nuclear disarmament, are not allowed to wear CND badges?

Why should one set of beliefs based on faith, be privileged over a set of beliefs based on reason?

You may be right Hulababy, but how do you we know ?
It's not a requirement of most Christian sects for young girls to wear such rings, but what of her personal faith ?
Are we only to give rights to members of big, politcally powerful religions like Catholicism ?

If she genuinely believes that God wants her to wear it, who exactly should have the right to take it off her saying "that's bollocks" ?

Haven't read the whole thread, so forgive me if I am repeating what someone else has said, but my opinion (should anyone want it) is that the parents of this girl chose to send her to a school with a strict uniform code, presumably because they have a strict discipline record and are a "good" school.

It is highly hypocritical of them now to take the school to court for not letting their daughter breach that code.

Rules are rules and they are there to be adhered to. If they don't like the rules, they should have sent her to the nearest crappy school that have way more important things to worry about than what bits of jewellery the girls are wearing today.

so there.

Thing is of course, that as parents of kids going to state school one isn't really making a free choice.
One is often putting up with the lesser evil.

I would bet real money that all sorts of exceptions are made to the school "uniform" if you are lucky enough to follow your faith in the way that that particular head teacher thinks looks nice.
Are silver crosses banned, for instance ?

I think we need to get our minds clear what religious freedom needs to be.

It's pretty worthless to be nice to people you like, and whose views you admire.
I don't think much of this girls action, indeed the silver ring crap does rather seem to be dying in it's native America.

But it does seem to be a genuine view based upon a religion. Not mine, not the majority, even of her own sect of Christianity, but she appears to believe it.

If you start saying that only "approved" religious views are allowed to be expressed, then you start down a very nasty road.

It must be remembered that in most cases separation of church and state was not to protect the state, but to protect Christians from each other. Once the state gets involved in saying "this religious expression is OK, but this is not", then you start oppressing people.
The nature of religion means that isn't like taxing 4 wheel drive cars, or fining people for not sorting their rubbish. They will poke back. Since one person poking back just gets picked off, they start banding together, because even now, it's noticeable that large, occasionally violent relgious groups get more of the cake.
That's not just Moslems, look at the money hosed at Northern Ireland.

I think that regardless of whether it is a "true" symbol or not, the school should be allowing all or none in terms of religious garb.

This school it seems, is supposed to be very strict on any kind of jewellery but there seem to have been reports that suggest that they allow all sorts of other religious wear but not hers, that they are actually very slack in enforcing the rules.

She was on the radio and she said that the school was alright with the ring when only she was wearing it, but when it spread to her friends, there was a problem. I can see how they thought it was becoming a bit of a fashion thing, but it has to be one rule for all I think.

Unless I am being very stupid, this seems to be a non issue. The school has a no jewellery policy, but it allows the girls to wear symbols of their faith. This girl is a christian. She is perfectly entitled under the school rules to wear a cross. Unless right wing american fundamentalist evangelicalism has become a separate faith when I wasn't looking, this ring is not a symbol of a faith. She may believe very strongly in the silver ring thing club she belongs to. My dd is a very committed and enthusiastic member of the scouting movement and is always telling me of the moral and physical benefits of being a scout but I don't think she is entitled to wear her woggle to school.
So Lydia should wear a cross if she wants to show herself to be a Christian and wear her ring on a chain under hershirt if she want the reminder of the pledge she has made. But remember Matthew 6: 16-18.

I hadn't thought of it that way Domini. You are right. I have changed my mind she should get to wear her ring

Katielylye, if I substituted "Pakistani" and "Moslem", into your statement, would it not look more that a little racist ?

Why do you think it OK to belittle someone's belief because it has a foreign origin ?

The ring is a symbol of her faith, not yours, but so what ?

Could you just point out the hole in my precis of your position.
1: You are personally able to determine what is correct Christian doctrine.

2: Being influenced by a kind of foreigner you dislike invalidates someone's freedom of religion.

3: Even if someone expresses no political opinion, the fact that she shares a faith with someone whose political position you dislike (worse still, a foreign one), means that they lose rights.