One of the first items of spiritual jewelry examined here at the BofG was the Silver Ring Thing. The SRT is what you might call a pre-engagement ring, a pledge to not to engage in sexual relations until marriage.

Of course, not everyone thinks that the abstinence movement is a good idea. Within evangelical circles, one of the most popular responses to what some see as the negativity of the abstinence message is Sex God, a book (and video and speaking tour) by Michigan pastor Rob Bell.

Sex God may seem like a radical innovation--which is part of its appeal, especially among teens and twenty-somethings--but it's actually the latest in a long tradition of attempts to sex up the Christian message. Bell and his followers use the language of sex play, scholarship and postmodernism to justify a radical liberating ethic of, well, having sex only in marriage, much like twenty years ago Josh McDowell used a blend of '70s sex manuals and pop psychology to promote "Maximum Sex" . . . in marriage.

If it's novelty you seek, perhaps the cheekiest response to the Christian abstinence movement appears in the video below: