Editors note: This is a rebuttal to the Pitt News editorial, "School censorship exceeds reason"  appearing in the Pitt News on Nov 29, 2005.

Premarital sex occurs more often than not and society knows about it. This however does not mean society has to give teens or college students a way out to avoid the consequences of premarital sex. However, sadly this is what society is doing.

If society knows someone may have sex before marriage, rather than promoting abstinence and the benefits of waiting until marriage, society is eager to offer those who want to engage in premarital sex a helping hand. This is wrong.

According to statistics from “The State of America's Children Yearbook”: “73 percent of all teens say that the reason they engage in sex is due to the social pressure”(Children's) The schools even tell them in their “safe sex” education that it is okay as long as you use condoms and birth control pills. Dr. Mcllhaney said in a report to the “Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce U. S. House of Representatives” (Mcllhaney) (http://www.marriageromance.com/stories/10802697703.htm)

Offering those who want to have sex before marriage a helping hand is offering them a path to destruction. Birth control pills or condoms are not full-proof or a safety net to avoid Sexually Transmitted Diseases or AIDS. Premarital sex can also lead to unplanned pregnancies for teens. This can either cause a teen to opt for abortion, adoption, or raising the child! Regardless, their life gets turned around one way or the other.

Proponents of informing teens about birth control or condoms will be eager to say it is for the welfare of the children to prevent the above consequences. The way to prevent the above consequences is not to have sex until marriage. This however does not mean sometimes unplanned pregnancies do not happen in marriage.

If contraceptives were not offered to children when they plan to have sex, you need to ask yourself, how many would refrain from having it, how many lives would be spared, and how many would have benefited from it. Instead, society is eager to give it to them. The classic excuse is, “They are going to do it anyway, we may as well help make it safe.”

This is bunch of hogwash and baloney. We are encouraging children to have sex before marriage by giving them a way out. There is no accountability that if people decide to engage in an action that is not beneficial, there are consequences.

There is no research to show that if children do not have sex, their psychological, emotional, or physical well being will change. If children are into peer pressure, they have already given control of their lives to someone else without being in control. The actions they have brought upon themselves.

No matter what others want you to believe the Oak Ridge High School in Tennessee must be commended and applauded for removing 1800 newspapers before the student body could read it.

There is a place for censorship in the media too. As a media, we are not obligated to report everything someone needs to know especially if it maybe damaging to the readership in the long run or maybe damaging to society as a whole.

For example, it was prudent of TV stations to pull the plug when a politician decided to put a gun in his mouth and kill himself during a live news conference. Did the public have to see that? I do not think so!

The children at Oak Ridge High School  did not have to read about an informative article on birth control. We want the children to be protected. Just because we think children are already exposed to sex or sexual messages does not mean Oak Ridge has to contribute to that exposure.

They were thinking about the welfare of the children by removing the newspapers. It is also important to remember the target audience and who the paper is reaching. Tennessee is considered a southern state in the Bible belt.

Most administrators maybe inclined to adhere to Scripture and its teachings. Does it mean they impose it on the children, not necessarily but it must be realized that most children’s parents maybe Bible believing Christians or Evangelical Christians who do not want their children being exposed to that stuff in school.

The school administrators in this instant are making the parents see that their trust to take care of the children during school hours is not misplaced.

More schools should take the approach of the Oak Ridge High School in Tennessee and fight any lawsuits that come their way by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

In closing, "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:18-20, NIV)

Ramesh C. Reddy believes in the concept of accountability for our actions and can be reached at rreddy@pittsburghstandard.com

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