UK girl loses battle over chastity ring

A teenage girl banned from wearing a chastity ring in class lost a legal challenge Monday against her former school.

Lydia Playfoot had argued that the ban at the Millais School in Horsham, about 40 miles south of London, was an "unlawful interference" with her right to express her Christian faith.

But deputy High Court judge Michael Supperstone disagreed and supported her school's contention that the ring was not an integral part of the Christian faith.

Playfoot, 16, wears a ring as a sign of her commitment to abstinence from sex until marriage. Many Christian teenagers worldwide wear the rings, which were inspired by "The Silver Ring Thing," an abstinence program launched in the United States in 1996.

The ruling "will mean that slowly, over time, people such as school governors, employers, political organizations and others will be allowed to stop Christians from publicly expressing and practicing their faith," Playfoot said in a statement.

The school had said the ring fell outside its uniform policy, which makes exceptions for Muslims wearing head scarves and Sikhs wearing steel bracelets.

Playfoot's lawyer, Paul Diamond, had told the court that secular authorities, including school officials, "lack capacity to rule on the correct manifestation of religious belief" and the ban contravened Playfoot's right to religious expression.

Playfoot said she was considering an appeal.