Christians Under Attack

Lydia Playfoot, 16, argued that the ban was an “unlawful interference” with her right to express her faith and also breached her human rights.

The school banned the ring, which bears a biblical verse as a sign of the wearer’s belief in abstinence from sex, because it broke health and safety guidelines.

But after the High Court upheld the ban by the Millais School in Horsham, West Sussex, Lydia said she believed it was a further at­tempt to prevent Christians from expressing their faith.

She argued that Muslim and Sikh pupils were allowed to wear symbols of their faith, including headscarves and religious bangles, but that rules were different for Christians.

The symbolic declaration was started by the Silver Ring Thing movement in the US, which promotes the message of no sex before marriage.

In a statement, Lydia said she be­lieved that the ruling “will mean that slowly people such as school governors, employers, political organisations and others will be allowed to stop Christians from expressing and practising their faith”.

She added: “I believe that I have a right not only to state my Christian views on sex, but also to demonstrate my Christian faith and commitment to God and my future husband not to have sex before marriage, through the wearing of a purity ring.

“The wearing of the ring was, to me, a demonstration of my Christian faith and values, which are based on the Bible, which clearly teaches that sex outside of marriage is wrong and therefore not God’s best for us.

POSTED BY /http://www.express.co.uk