Silver ring thing
I see there is a court case by a young girl and her Pastor father over the wearing of a silver ring. It's a ring worn by those who have pledged themselves to chastity before marriage. It's an American movement and has been to Belfast. Her school have forbidden her from wearing it as it contravenes their no jewelery rule. She claims it is a contravention of her rights to express her Christianity the way she wants. She cites the fact that Muslim girls can wear head covering while she is prevented from wearing the ring.
While I commend her pledge of chastity, are their not better ways to express your Christianity than the wearing of a ring? It is not by any stretch of the imagination a recognised symbol of Christianity and I think the school are within their rights to ban this. Surely the more we trivialise our faith by going to court over these sorts of things the more counterproductive it is?
I actually have serious doubts about this silver ring thing any way.
posted by Paul Reid at 7:38 PM
4 Comments:
Paul I dont believe that your comments are serious here.
I think that a young girl taking a stand for sexual purity in this day and age is something that we should commend - it is not the norm! There may well be better ways of exprssing your christianity but that does not mean that wearing a ring as a sign of your committment to God is a bad thing and of no value. How does this trivialise our faith? I guess that most people would be delighted to see strength, commitment and courage in their young people.
Also where is the definitive list of christian symbols that we can reference against? ie a cross is okay but a ring is not? Our faith has a living evoloving element to it and new symbols will evolve as time moves on. I guess that if the girl wanted to wear a silver cross that would not be allowed either... Personally I am delighted to see a younger person have the guts to make a dignified and responsible stand for what she believes and as a christian minister should you not be applauding her?
Also what would you your (better) suggestions for getting our kids to stay pure?
10:18 AM
I find it commendable that a young person would choose to stand up and be willing to wear such a visible sign of her faith. Granted the signs nothing without the choices to back it up, but that's between her & God in my opinion.
At the very least it's something to remind her of the choice that she's made, at best it will grant her the opportunity to speak to others on why she's made that choice and witness Christ to her peers.
I find it funny in a somber way that in a day and age where freedom of expression is proclaimed by all, Christianity always seems to suffer restriction & persecution.
8:05 PM
Is this a visible sign of her faith or just a fashion statement so she can be with the 'in' crowd. If she truly has faith and commitment to god, she doesn't need to advertise it with any ring.
9:09 PM
Personally I find it refreshing to see Paul, a Christian pastor, being honest about this. I share his view that there are better ways for us to stand up for our faith and share our views than going to court over the fact that there are health and safety reasons why this girl shouldn't wear the ring!
I think that it's easy to look at the Muslim or Hindu faiths and think, 'well if they are allowed to wear head scarves etc. then why shouldn't we be able to wear crosses or rings?', but is that what God would really want us doing? Would he not want our lives to be a symbol or him as opposed to a piece of jewellery? When we get preoccupied about such things should we not take stock of what's really important in God's eyes?
12:48 AM
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