Yes, that could very well be a rhetorical question since the ways abstinence-only advocates demonstrate their stupidity, ignornace, and cruelty are legion. But it so happens I have a specific real-life example, taken from a CBS News report (found here for as long as they keep it archived).

The article quotes Denny Pattyn, a Christian youth minister, [who] founded Silver Ring Thing in 1996. "After three-and-a-half hours of giving them our best shot [on stage], 75 percent become convinced and put on the ring," says Pattyn. "Our goal actually is to create a culture shift in America. We want to see the concept of abstinence be the norm rather than the exception."

Pattyn doesn’t just preach the virtues of sexual abstinence. His show is full of negative messages about condoms – messages warning that condoms won’t protect kids from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

That's right, you are reading that correctly. Denny Pattyn, fanatic, doesn't just urge abstinence only, he goes on to demonize condom use. This is a standard abstinence-only advocate tactic to insure that those who are foolish enough to listen and believe the abstinence-only propaganda will face unwanted pregnancies for daring to have sex anyway. It isn't about protecting young people from unwanted pregnancy. It is about making sure they pay the price of an unwanted pregnancy for not remaining abstinent.

You may think I am being deliberately mean-spirited, and interpreting Denny Pattyn's words more harshly and literally than he intended them. An abstinence-only advocate would say that I was deliberately putting misleading words into his mouth, or reading more into what he said, twisting his words to make it sound like he would prefer his own children to endure an unwanted pregnancy rather than practice safe sex.

Surprisingly, CBS News correspondent Ed Bradley did his job and pushed the good minister for clarification.

"You’re telling kids not to have sex. But some kids are going to have sex," says Bradley. "What do you tell those kids. You tell them not to wear a condom?"

"What I would say is: If you choose to use a condom, don’t think you’re getting the protection you think you’re getting," says Pattyn.

"A kid’s part of your program, and he comes to you and says, 'You know, I’m going to have sex. I’ve reached a point and I’m going to do this. Should I use a condom?' What do you say?" asks Bradley.

"My own daughter, my 16-year-old daughter, tells me she’s going to be sexually active. I would not tell her to use a condom," says Pattyn. "I don't think it'll protect her. It won’t protect her heart. It won’t protect her emotional life. And it’s not going to protect her. I don’t want her to get out there and think that she’s going to be protected using a condom."

But wouldn't his daughter be more protected with a condom than without? "Not long term," says Pattyn.

So in case you were wondering if I was making poor Mr Pattyn a monster by misinterpreting his words, doubt no more. He is a monster, and God help his 16-year old daughter.

It is also interesting to notice that while the world at large would interpret "protection" as preventing an unwanted pregnancy or maybe even lending some barrier against disease, Denny Pattyn interprets "protection" to be some kind of defense against a broken heart or an upsetting emotional experience. That is so ridiculous that only some addlepated religious fanatic could possibly lend it any credence. Abstinence is not going to protect anyone against a broken heart, nor will it afford any defense against a dysfunctional emotional engagement. No one with any sense at all ever thought for one second that a condom would do anything like that.

What Mr Pattyn has tried to do, in his blundering, stupid and altogether laughable way, is redefine "protection" to suit his own warped use. He thinks that because he has redefined "protection," that he can use the word in his way and everyone else will just magically understand what "protection" involves on Planet Denny.

Here on Planet Earth, though, it still means pretty much what intelligent and reasonable people think it means.