c. 2005 Religion News Service

CLEVELAND _ Luvirt Parker was 16 years old when he first pledged at a True Love Waits rally to remain a virgin until his wedding day.

Seven years later, the Cleveland State University graduate was back to tell several hundred youths at Mount Zion Church of Oakwood, Ohio, that he has remained true to his word, and is looking forward to being married in April to a woman who shares his beliefs.

“I love her so much I want to wait until the wedding night,” Parker said recently at an interchurch rally celebrating a movement that has grown from 100 youths in a few nearby churches in 1996 to some 400 youths from more than 20 churches. “There’s nothing like knowing you’re pure before God. Your conscience is clear.”

At the end of the rally, about 150 northeastern Ohio youths made commitments to wait until they are married to have sex, joining more than 2.4 million youths across the country who have taken the True Love Waits pledge.

The True Love Waits campaign is one of several abstinence-only movements gaining strength throughout the nation as more churches push abstinence over safe-sex campaigns.

Another fast-growing group, the Silver Ring Thing campaign, is planning to make Cleveland one of 35 national hub cities.

Abstinence educators say many youths embrace alternatives to a popular culture that glamorizes teen sex.

“There’s almost like an innocence that had been lost that has returned,” said Denny Pattyn, executive director of Silver Ring Thing, based in Pennsylvania, which uses sketch comedy and music videos as part of its faith-based abstinence program. “Kids overwhelmingly want a strong abstinence agenda.”

Ron Edgerson, an 18-year-old from Providence Baptist Church and a member of the rap group Church Boyz, was among those taking the pledge at Mt. Zion to be abstinent “from this day until the day I enter a biblical marriage relationship.”

“I want to save my heart, my whole heart, for the person I’m waiting for, for the person God sends to me,” he said.

But the growing phenomenon comes amid conflicting evidence about the value of educational approaches emphasizing abstinence.

A study by the nonpartisan research center ChildTrends showed that the number of teens having sex declined from 54 percent in 1991 to 46 percent in 2001.

Another study by researchers at Yale and Columbia universities showed that teens who made a one-time pledge to refrain from sex before marriage were likely to delay having sex, have fewer partners and get married earlier. However, they were also less likely to use contraception when they became sexually active. The study found there was no significant statistical difference among pledgers and non-pledgers in their rates of contracting a sexually transmitted disease.

Some say abstinence-only programs can endanger youths by leaving them unprepared for the consequences of sexual activity.

Ann Hanson, minister for Children, Family and Human Sexuality of the Cleveland-based United Church of Christ, said the denomination’s approach is to provide youths with age-appropriate information about their options, including contraception and abortion.

“If youth have complete and accurate information about issues of sexuality, they will make more informed decisions about sexual health,” she said, adding that her approach can be summed up as “Just say `know.”’

But others say teenagers are searching for moral guidance and peer support to make appropriate choices.

“I think there is a fair percentage of teenagers who are offended by messages from teachers, government leaders, and sometimes even parents that seem to suggest teenagers are almost barnyard animals,” the Rev. Richard Ross, founder of True Love Waits, said in an interview. “What is refreshing about True Love Waits is that young people are hearing voices that say, `We fully believe in you and your generation.”’

New research also indicates abstinence programs may work better with some groups of youths than others.

A recent study of more than 3,000 teenagers and their parents, the most comprehensive research ever done on faith and adolescence, found that many religious youths make choices based on traditional moral standards. The National Study of Youth and Religion found, for example, that 95 percent of teens classified as devoted believe in waiting for marriage to have sex, compared with only 24 percent of unaffiliated teens who hold that view.

“Abstinence isn’t for everybody,” Pattyn said. “It’s for kids who want to step up to that level. There should be a program for them.”

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Ross and Pattyn said it is important in evaluating national research to distinguish among abstinence-only programs.

For example, Ross said, many faith-based programs encourage follow-up and require a commitment beyond writing in a notebook in a health education class.

“For True Love Waits young people, the promise is to God almighty. That is remarkably different in power,” Ross said.

At the Mt. Zion rally, rap groups, liturgical dancers and a spirited Bible trivia game were interspersed with speakers promoting sexual abstinence.

After the pledges were made, hundreds of youths, parents and church workers embraced one another as their commitments were praised.

“This is an hour for this generation,” declared Gail Reese, director of the Greater Cleveland Youth Leaders Network, which sponsored the program. “Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.”

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(David Briggs writes about religion for the Cleveland Plain Dealer)