"We do that in particular with issues of immorality," she said. "And I'm talking about heterosexual chastity."

She did talk about gay marriage and expressed remorse that some people told her they were hurt by her comments a year ago. Dew has taken a stand against gay marriage, but that does not mean she will judge friends or others who are gay.

"I have friends living an openly gay lifestyle with kids. In every instance, they are caring parents who love their kids and their kids love them. They know I feel it's not my prerogative to judge them. It's their right to choose. . . . Those that deal with same-sex attraction have my respect."

Dew, 51, expressed sadness that she has never married, but she said she has remained chaste, a decision that has prevented pain she has seen in others.

Sex, she said, is "a sacramental kind of experience between a man and a woman to bring them closer together and closer to the Lord."

Dew said it is a lie to portray the law of chastity as a law of denial.

"It hasn't always been easy being chaste," she said. "But I think it has always been easier than the alternative. I have had my share of lonely days and lonely nights. But I have never spent one second contemplating an abortion. I have never spent one second feeling I was violated. I have never spent one second feeling abandoned or abused by a man who had abandoned or abused me.

"Can't we teach the law of chastity is a law of liberation instead of a law of denial?"

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com