The story about the purity ring sort of impinged on the fringes of my consciousness this week, meaning that I saw the headlines and didn’t bother reading the story, expecting it to be nothing more than a remix of the British Airways cross and countless other examples of religious maniacs thwarted in their attempts to be visibly holier-than-thou. So I didn’t realise that it s a local story, with the action taking place in Horsham until I read Unity’s examination of it over at the Ministry of Truth and Danivon’s comments over at Rodney McAree Forever.

It turns out to be much more than the normal complaints about school dress codes. For a start the rings are not a generic religious symbol, but a trademarked commercial product, and the girl’s parents are both heavily involved in the company selling them over here. To make it even more complicated, Unity’s follow-up tells how another person heavily involved in the company which is promoting sexual abstinence is an ex-lingerie model with connections to a prominent BNP member who was deported from America for supporting Michael Jackson to the extent of making threats against the father of a boy who accused Jacko of molesting him.

I can’t help feeling a little sorry for Lydia Playfoot. Apart from a strong suspicion that she was either brainwashed into the whole Silver Ring Thing (TM) concept or coerced into it she now seems to be getting turned into a political football to further her parents’ own strange beliefs and/or commercial interests.

At the root fo all this is a quote from the bible which is popularly translated as:

God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin. Then each of you will control your body and live in holiness and honour.

which seems to be open to any number of interpretations, even if you take that translation as 100% accurate. Not being a religious person myself I can’t really recognise sin, but would take that to mean something immoral, so to me that quote does not say “you should keep clear of all sexual activity” it just says keep clear of immoral sexual activity – like shagging someone behind their partner’s back or similar.

If only all the religious extremists would refrain from all sexual activity – within a generation or two the world would be a much more tolerant and happy place.