January 26, 2004

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  The power of the ring thing

  
  

   

  
  

  By Richard Alwyn, This World
  Producer and director of American Virgins

  
  

   

  
  

  The Bush administration gave $120m to abstinence organisations last year.

  
  

   

  
  

  The tightrope that these groups must walk, however, is at the heart of the American constitution, which demands the separation of church and state.

  
  

   

  
  

  Many of the abstinence organisations, like the Silver Ring Thing which received $700,000 in federal funding, are faith-based groups.

  
  

   

  
  

  The Silver Ring Thing's ringmaster, Denny Pattyn, is an ordained minister. He believes that the end of the world is nigh and that Christ will return within a generation.
  

   Abstinence, he says, is a tool to reach young people for God, safeguarding them for the Second Coming.

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