Silver Ring Thing is one of many Christian organizations running abstinence-only educational programs around the United States. It has received over a million dollars in federal and state subsidies. Silver Ring Thing invokes God and faith as the active component of a student's pledge for abstinence, handing out Bibles and preaching "you are designed to have sex with one person, your husband or your wife."

Denny Patton, the founder of Silver Ring Thing, tells the students that condoms don't work. Here he is, talking to 60 Minutes-

60 Minutes: "We spoke with some of the kids after the show in Fort Myers and they said going into the program they thought that condoms did work, but your show convinced them that they didn't."

Patton: "Right, that's good, because we believe that condoms aren't the answer."

60 Minutes: "You're telling kids not to have sex, but some kids are going to have sex. What do you tell those kids? Do you tell them not to wear a condom?"

Patton: "What I would say is if you chose to use a condom, don't think you're getting the protection you think you're getting."

60 Minutes: "So let me simplify. A kid is part of your program and he comes to you and says You know, I'm going to have sex. I've reached a point and I'm going to do this. Should I use a condom? What do you say?"

Patton: "Let me simplify it even more, my own daughter... my 16 year old daughter tells me she's going to be sexually active. I would not tell her to use a condom."

60 Minutes (surprised): "You wouldn't?"

Patton: "I would not."

60 Minutes: "Why?"

Patton: "Because I don't think it'll protect her. It won't protect her heart. It won't protect her emotional life. And it's not going to protect her... I don't want her to get out there and think that she's going to be protected using a condom."

60 Minutes: "But wouldn't she be more protected with that condom than without it?"

Patton: "Not long term."

Onegoodmove has a fifteen minute Quicktime video available of the 60 Minutes episode from which the above is transcribed. If you're of the liberal mindset, I urge you to watch it and use your outrage to help stop this travesty. Pay attention to the teacher near the end of the video, talking about user failure rates of male condoms as being 14%-16%. "The county said that's the way it had to be taught, that it had to be a failure rate rather than a success rate."

In order to qualify for federal funding, there is an actual law which stipulates programs such as Silver Ring Thing must not talk about the health benefits of condoms, only their drawbacks. I can understand fundamentalists holding an all or nothing stance on abstinence and sexual health. Black versus white is their specialty. To have it backed by a law preventing the other side from being taught is atrocious.

If you pay taxes in America, as I do, realize this is our money being used to fund Christian fundamentalism. We're covering the costs of handing out Bibles and scaring kids into silence about their sex lives. You and I share in the responsibility for every unwanted pregnancy and every case of gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV these lied-to teenagers will contract if we do nothing to stop this.

If you're of the Christian conservative mindset and think the above is a good use of our taxes, I also urge you to watch the video, keeping in mind the following facts:

• Of the students who pledge abstinence in Silver Ring Thing's program, 88% broke their pledge. Hormones are a far more powerful influence on teenage behavior than a promise.
• The greatest increases in HIV infection in the United States are being seen in teenagers and those in their twenties. It only takes one mistake.

By not teaching your kids about condoms as a viable backup for the 100% safety of abstinence, you place them at tremendous risk. Even with a pledge of abstinence, 88% of them will have sex, and you will have failed to prepare them. Which would you rather have for a kid: a live sinner or a dead sinner?

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Not my kid."

You were a kid once, too. Remember the things you did?