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Girl sues school over ban on chastity ring

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 23, 2007

LONDON - A teenage girl banned from wearing a chastity ring in class took her case to Britain's High Court on Friday, arguing that her school had violated her religious freedom.

Lydia Playfoot, a 16-year-old student at Millais School in Horsham, about 40 miles south of London, wears the ring as a sign of her commitment to abstain from sex until marriage. Many Christian teenagers worldwide wear the chastity rings, which were inspired by "The Silver Ring Thing, " an abstinence program launched in the United States in 1996.

The school said the ring fell outside its uniform policy, which makes exceptions for Muslims wearing head scarves and Sikhs wearing steel bracelets. Headmaster Leon Nettley said chastity rings do not form an integral part of the Christian faith.

That violated Playfoot's freedom of religion, her lawyer, Paul Diamond, argued before the court. "Secular authorities and institutions cannot be arbiters of religious faith, " he said.

In a written submission to the hearing, Lydia said her school did not afford equal rights to Christians as it did to other faiths.

"At my school, Muslims are allowed to wear headscarves and other faiths can wear bangles and other types of jewelry, and it feels like Christians are being discriminated against, " she told British Broadcasting Corp. radio's Today program.

Nettley denied the charge.

The ring "is not a Christian symbol, and is not required to be worn by any branch within Christianity, " he said in his own written statement.

[Last modified June 23, 2007, 00:20:34]