Care Net's Purity Ball Preview


Okay, pals of the Christian right (and I have a lot of them, including many of my extended family). It's time to declare at least that this is not only creepy, but downright sick.

The Sage and I have three grown (20-somethings) daughters, and from the time they were teenagers, I'll confess, I sometimes complained that he spent more time with them than with me. But never, ever, did our girls primp -- make themselves up, dress in strapless gowns -- to get their dad's attention. It was always, "Help me with my presentation... my car repairs... my boyfriend... my teacher... "

I showed him the video of dads with their daughters at the "purity balls" and his reaction was, "Disgusting!" We laughed at the notion that any of our girls would ever primp up with makeup and strapless gowns for their dad and declare their decision for "abstinence until marriage" to him -- as The Sage declared, "That's a promise they should make to God, and beyond that their mother should be an equal object with their dad." In the case of our girls, they're more likely to look their worst to play on Dad's sympathy.

With all of the sex scandals involving Christian ministers over the years, I think it's time someone helped the Christian community to understand that sex is one of the great gifts of God, not an instinct to be ashamed of. We would all be a lot healthier for it. If we could cope with the idea (explicitly spelled out in the Bible in the Song of Solomon) that God ordained that we should have a healthy enjoyment of sex, we would be more aligned with what God ordained. And isn't that what religionists are supposed to aim for, obedience to God?

Tags: purity balls