Modesty and purity dances get publicity

A look from a major U. S. paper into the modesty trend:

It was an evening for couples—girls in formal gowns, tiaras and curly updos, escorted by their dads, in tuxedos or dressy suits and ties.

They dined on roast beef and waltzed to classical music in a ballroom decorated with draped crosses and a mannequin in a white wedding gown. They listened as a guest speaker warned of the dangers of premarital sex. Then they stood at their tables, looked each other in the eye and vowed that they would remain pure.

He signed a pledge to be the protector of her purity and to live his own life with integrity. She gave her father a gold key to her heart, and asked him to hold on to it until her wedding day, when he would hand it over to her husband. They walked down the aisle with locked arms and she laid a white rose beside a cross, sealing her commitment....

For abstinence-only advocates such as Dannah Gresh, author of "And the Bride Wore White," there is no middle ground in the eyes of God. She brushes off criticism that her message is closed-minded and ineffective.

"Everyone has the right to promote their position. It seems contradictory to say you're open-minded by handing these girls condoms and not giving me the right to encourage them not to reach for them," said Gresh, the guest speaker at the Peoria purity ball. "These girls already know about condoms. We are telling them there is an alternative."

Read the rest here from the Chicago Tribune.