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San Francisco was the site of a “reverse rebellion” last weekend. 

BattleCry, an initiative of Texas-based Teen Mania—one of the world’s largest Chirstian youth organizations—brought its message to the Bay Area, drawing hundreds of supporters to a rain soaked rally. The group preaches against elements of popular culture which they say are contributing to the spread of STDs, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, and suicide among teenagers. 

Teenagers gathered on San Francisco City Hall steps last Friday to declare the “BattleCry Bill of Rights,” which seeks to allow children to grow up without being exploited for financial gain. 

As the words “We will pursue purity throughout our lives ... We will not be seduced by a fabricated idea of sex and love ... We will save our bodies and hearts for our future spouse, and once married, we commit to pursue faithful and enduring relationships,” grew louder at the rally, there were sporadic bursts of chants such as “The Christian right is wrong,” and “Go home” from anti-BattleCry groups who had gathered to oppose the rally. 

Sister Mary Timothy, from the satiric gay group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, told The Planet that this was a cry to battle. “We are in the order of men and women who promote joy,” she said. “These kids are being brainwashed to start hating everyone who is different from them. We want to stop that from happening.” 

Elisa Welch, a member of Code Pink and Women for Peace, had just one message for BattleCry: “Shut up and go home. We don’t need more people like you taking over our children’s lives.” 

Natasha, a teenage spokesperson for BattleCry, took the criticism in good spirit. 

“We know that there are some people here who don’t support us and that’s okay,” she told the Planet. “The Lord has told us to love all. We are not here to condemn anyone or hate anyone. We are against media which glamorizes sex, drugs, and alcohol and we want to live a life of truth instead of temptation.” 

Echoing Natasha’s words were teenagers Aubri, Suzie and Jayme who had come down from Portland, Ore., to participate in BattleCry. 

“Praise the Lord,” they chanted unanimously. They said the protest had been spiritually exhausting. They said they joined the rally to help bring a stop to all the aspects of modern culture that take people away from God. 

Aubri, Suzie, and Jayme were not alone. More than 25,000 supporters of BattleCry gathered in the AT&T Stadium in San Francisco that evening and on Saturday to address topics of alcohol, sex, culture, and faith through empowering messages, high-voltage music and interactive drama. 

Concord native Ron Luce, 44, who created Teen Mania in 1986 to help teenagers caught in a “life of hopelessness and despair,” spoke at the event. He was joined by artists and bands including Delirious, TobyMac, and KJ-52. 

Teen Mania has worked to make sure teenagers and parents hear statistics such as “MTV airs (on average) 9 sexual scenes per hour and more than 8 un-bleeped profanities per hour,” or that “thousands of young people between the ages of 15-24 will commit suicide this year” and “approximately four million teens will contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD) this year.” 

Luce’s speech decried how sex and violence have been glamorized, “It’s ‘virtue terrorism’ and teens have had enough,” he said. “The media and retailers who peddle this garbage for the sake of cash and controversy are doing so at the expense of our children.” 

The Saturday event also marked the unveiling of www.mybattleplan.com which was described as the Christian alternative to myspace.com and would cater to the interests of Christian youths. 

BattleCry will be repeated in Detroit April 7 to 8 and Philadelphia May 13  

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