So the Pope's done gone and issued his first encyclical, which I won't quote too much here because I don't have any Euros handy--except to say that the Pope's reference to "that love between man and woman which is neither planned nor willed" sounds a lot like how my parents' explained why I was going to have another little brother. 

Seriously, though, the Pope's 25 page exegesis of the difference between caritas, agape and eros won't come as news to anyone who attended an evangelical fellowship in college.  This was a recurring theme at our Friday night InterVarsity meetings back when I was at Duke, as we learned the biblical basis for why God wanted us there watching skits & not out scoping hotties at keggers.

I've given the Pope enough press for now, so I decided to check out one of my old stomping grounds at college, the Southern Baptist Church (Westwood represent!), to see how they reflect the Church's obsession with sex are celebrating the primacy of spiritual love.  The pictures you see in this entry all come from the Valentine's Day jewelry listings of the SBC's Lifeway Christian Stores, and therein lies the tale.

Of eight pieces of jewelry listed on the Lifeway site, 

• one features a cross (and is the only one sold out),
• one sports the inspirational but not exactly romantic slogan "Faith," and
• six are about not having sex.

Is there a better way of giving your honey a memorable night of romance than by giving her a chastity charm?  Why, I bet she'll be telling her girlfriends about that for years! My favorite is the one pictured below . . .

Now why would you present your crush with three "True Love Waits" rings?  Let's see.  There's one for her ring finger, one for your ring finger, and one for . . . um . . .

NAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH