Denver Pastor Is Asking Women To Mail Her Their Purity Rings For A Very Badass Reason ????

Purity rings are common among some Christian denominations. Young girls receive them as a symbol, a sort of reminder to abstain from sexual activity until marriage.

The practice is controversial, as it reinforces patriarchal and paternal notions of female sexuality.

A Denver-based pastor and author, Nadia Bolz-Weber, is asking people to mail her their old purity rings for a project.

Bolz-Weber is creating this project as part of a promotion for her new book, Shameless. It is a Christian perspective on reclaiming women’s bodies and sexuality.

She explained to Huffington Post:

“This thing about women that the church has tried to hide and control and that is a canvas on which other people can write their own righteousness ― it’s actually ours. …This part of me is mine and I get to determine what is good for it and if it’s beautiful and how I use it in the world.”

Bolz-Weber is the pastor at the House for All Sinners and Saints., a congregation she fouded as a progressive and LGBTQ-friendly Christian place of worship. She explained that many Christian women have been told that their “purity” and “holiness” are linked, whereas Bolz-Weber feels that holiness is intrinsic and cannot be bestowed or taken away by another person or an action. Therefore, someone’s ‘purity’ has nothing to do with how they are seen in God’s eyes.

She elaborated:

“To me, to be able to have the self-determination to take symbols and words and actions that might have harmed me at a different time in life and to reclaim and redefine and rework those into something healing and humorous ― that’s a powerful thing.”

People were here for this project.

Others wished they still had their purity rings so they could take part in the project.

And many were down to send theirs in.

H/T: Huffington Post, Twitter