Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 Source: Charlotte Observer (NC) Copyright: 2002 The Charlotte Observer Contact: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/78 Author: Michele M. Melendez, Religion News Service PURITY IS THE PATH FOR SOME TEENS Mickey Harris Jr. is young, strong and pure. He's 16, a 6-foot-3 athlete and a virgin. "Purity is abstaining from anything that can affect you mentally, physically or spiritually in a bad way," he said. "You can make mistakes along the way, but you want to come back to being pure." In Pennsauken, Mickey's southern New Jersey town, and in communities across the country, purity is a label that goes beyond "sexually abstinent" or "drug-free." It means unsoiled in all respects, in an emerging, largely Christian movement aimed at straight-edged youth. Mickey regularly joins hundreds of other young people who act, rap and dance at "Purity Jams." In suburban New Orleans, teens are expressing a "Passion4Purity" with role-playing and song. In the St. Petersburg, Fla., area, teens are taking the "Purity Power Pledge." This outpouring comes as Congress discusses public funding to promote sexual abstinence, the element most associated with purity. President Bush has requested $135 million for abstinence-only education programs, a $33 million increase from last year. Critics argue that the programs are blind to the reality of adolescence and, by withholding safe-sex information, may even put teens in danger. But, apart from the debate over whether abstinence education works, religious community leaders say they're convinced devotion to purity benefits teens. "It's not just `Say no to sex,' " said Daphne Stevens, founder of Melody Ministries in Pennsauken, which runs the Purity Jam in churches and schools in the Philadelphia area and New Jersey. "It's about destructive behavior, violence, peer pressure, prejudice." Teen struggles are varied Purity programs involve role-playing, games, music, prayer, skits and peer counseling. Some offer weekend retreats. Others meet for short gatherings. Discussion often turns to talk of consequences, how a thrill can fester into torment.Cindy Collins of Passion4Purity, a youth group in Slidell, La., outside New Orleans, said concentrating on sexual abstinence ignores other teen struggles. She said many who were active in the abstinence movement that emerged in the 1990s realized the focus was too narrow. "What I've seen is that it's only the surface of the need," she said. "You have to get deeper to the heart of this younger generation." Passion4Purity's mission has touched Kristen Alexander, 18. By age 14, she had already decided to remain sexually abstinent before marriage and devote herself to God. At age 16, she started volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center, where she saw girls pregnant and distraught. When she turned 17, Alexander joined Passion4Purity, which is affiliated with the pregnancy center. She said the weekly meetings, held in the group's strip-mall office, let young people talk about topics that they're afraid to mention in school, where purity can often be unpopular. "A lot of kids, they feel like they have no hope," Alexander said. Group faces peer pressure Last year, Marisa Tompkins, 17, of Tampa, Fla., started thinking about what her reputation would be. Her peers were getting more physical with boys. Some were trying drugs and alcohol. "I was in a stage of life where I was wondering if I wanted to live a chaste life," she said. She joined the POWER Team, a youth group sponsored by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Petersburg in Florida. The acronym stands for "Peers Offer Witness to Encourage Respect." Members meet monthly to socialize and yearly for a weekend retreat where they talk to younger children about peer pressure and other challenges. Encouraged by her older brother, Jack, 19, who had already signed up, Marisa took the "Purity Power Pledge," a promise "to live a life which is marked by purity and respect for all people." Marisa said she strayed by having a couple of drinks at a party and, on a separate occasion, allowing a boyfriend to get more physical with her than she wanted. But she said she caught her mistakes. She said she has avoided alcohol and protected her virginity. Emma Boe, the POWER Team's coordinator, said the program teaches refusal skills. She said young people should prepare for various scenarios, from sexual to social. For example, she said, if friends are pushing to see an objectionable movie, Boe advises: "You have to offer an alternative. `Why don't we go see this movie instead?' Or, `There are other fun things we can do.' " Programs primarily Christian While purity-labeled activities cut across denominations, they seem to be primarily Christian.Leaders of other faiths say the lack of such programs in their religious communities might reflect a difference in guiding youth. They say that while undesirable behavior exists among their children, the communities don't tend to pull out purity as an exercise. Imam Hassan Al-Qazwini, who leads the Islamic Center of America in Detroit, said lessons of purity are explicit in Islamic teaching. "It's a religious issue to remain pure, to stay away from alcohol, from drugs, the casinos, from gambling," he said. "Purity... is the point of the religious personality." Similarly, said Rabbi Moshe Edelman, director of leadership development for the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in New York City, the Jewish community does not highlight purity in youth programs because, "For Judaism, the notion of purity is one that pervades existence." Jimmy Hester, coordinator of an international abstinence campaign called True Love Waits, said children do get purity messages in Christian teaching. In his view, purity programs simply reinforce the message, when young people are stalked by sex, drugs and violence in the media. True Love Waits, sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tenn., has long equated purity with sexual abstinence. The program is known for sponsoring virginity pledge drives, during which young people sign commitment cards promising abstinence until marriage. True Love Waits has long been active among Southern Baptists and other conservative Christian churches in the Carolinas. Hester said he has sensed a broadening notion of purity. This year LifeWay published a study guide for youth called "Pure Joy: God's Formula for Passionate Living," which reads, "The concept of purity is more than just a sexual barometer." Kids find positive energy For Mickey, the New Jersey teen, it means going to church, doing homework, running track and playing football for his high school and giving respect. He attends a Purity Jam. "Everywhere you look, there's sex, there's drinking, there's smoking," he said. "When you go to the Purity Jam, this positive energy surrounds you. You know you're in a good place." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens