Friday, 31 October 2008
-
Pastor Charged with Felony Abuse for Spanking His Son
by mr palm
Thanks to angelbaby12487 for sending this in –
Barry Barnett, Jr., a pastor in Wisconsin, has been charged with felony child abuse after a teacher found that he had spanked his 12-year-old son. One of the child's siblings mentioned it to the teacher, who in turn reported the pastor to social services.
Barnett's son asserts that he deserved the spanking, which he received for continually lying to his parents. His doctor believes that the discipline was not abuse.
Should the pastor have been charged with child abuse or is this blown way out of proportion?
-
recommend
- recs 0
-
share
-
email
- sent 0
Related Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to revelife's Revelife Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in revelife's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
Comments (94)
I'm glad we trust the government to raise our kids since they're so good at everything else.
Even if you don't endorse spanking kids, you should at least respect a parent's right to discipline their kid. Obviously it can be taken overboard, but I don't think parents should have an inordinate fear of their kids being taken away for punishing them.
TOTALLY blown out of proportion. i was spanked as a child and will end up spanking my kids. it never got out of control. i was never abused. it was solely out of love and i deserved it. spare the rod spoil the child. theres so much truth to that.
he is 12 but i was spanked up until the end of middle school. after that, there are other means.
this is what this world is coming to and its disgraceful. exactly the reason why being a psychology major is one of the worst decisions ive made.
@TiRocKiinPiinK@xanga - sometimes marks will happen. ive been spanked with the belt and had bruises. thats just because i bruised easily. so it really cant be based upon that.
WAAAAY out of proportion!! If it was a simple swat or two to the rear it was nobody elses business. On the other hand, if it was on the line of black eyes and major bruises, that is a major issue.
It's so unfortunate that people have some sort of twisted mentality regarding spankings equaling abuse. No, the pastor should not have been charged with abuse. A spanking is a swat/two on the bottom, doesn't promote violence, doesn't instill fear, doesn't leave any physical nor emotional turmoil.
Way blown out of proportion, for sure. Had this been a real case of abuse in which a child is left traumatized, then yes, to charge him with abuse would have been correct. After all... abuse is what causes trauma. A spanking, however, doesn't.
I don't believe in spanking...I've yet to see any proof that it does anything "productive" that couldn't have been accomplished in another, less damaging way. That said, I also don't think it's or that it warrants CPS stepping in. Seriously? Go over to Momaroo. There are mothers driving around without their baby's car seats strapped in and leaving their kids home alone at the ripe old age of 3. And it's this guy getting into trouble for trying to teach his kid it's not okay to lie? Reeeeally??
this is absolutely ridiculous. I believe that the majority of people who were disciplined through spanking do not feel as though they were abused. Yes, there are parents who have taken this too far, yes, there has been abuse, but I know I was spanked and yet I do not remember it, I know I deserved it, and I learned from it. Do I think there are other ways of disciplining? absolutely. and 12 is probably a bit old. I think spanking is more appropriate when the child is not old enough to understand reason - but regardless the parents should always try to explain consequences of wrong behavior.
Felony? Are you serious? Ugh.
So I'm not that old...28...and when I was in elementary school TEACHERS were allowed to spank kids. So...in the past couple decades, things have changed a lot.
I'm so annoyed that discipline is now looked at as abuse, when it's really the other way around. Lack of discipline is abuse. I know there are other ways to discipline children, and I would even question whether or not a twelve year old would respond to spankings as much as grounding, loss of priveledge, etc. But society is really messed up when someone can be charged with felony for reasonably disciplining his child. If he beat him severely or truly ABUSED the child, sure, that guy needs to be locked up. But there is nothing wrong with spankings. I was spanked. I'm not scarred for life (physically or emotionally). In fact, I am thankful I had parents who cared enough to discipline me.
It's just gone too far. People wonder why there's so many problems with society? Maybe it's because people don't let parents discipline their children anymore. Next I'll be hearing about a parent getting locked up for telling their child "No."
free flash games: www.directgamez.com
I just seem to get the feeling that more was going on between the father and the child. I rarely hear of people getting in trouble for spanking their children... It just sounds as though the teacher saw or supposed that there was other abuse going on behind closed doors.
Also, just because a child (or wife, etc) says that the father didn't hurt him doesn't mean he really didn't hurt him. How do you think domestic abuse goes on as it does? Victims don't always speak up for themselves.
At this point in time, I don't think it's reasonable to receive a felony if it was only a case of spanking that is done sparingly. But it just sounds like more than that.
That's so ridiculous! It's just another example of someone trying to make pastors look bad however they can muster it.
first of all, i see where the pastor is coming from...i mean what would you do if your child kept lying to you. now i know im not a parent but ive pretty much raised my two little sisters and i, personally, dont see anything wrong w. what he did.
on the other hand, i wouldnt have spanked the child. i would have tried other discipline first. thats just personal opinion though...for me, spanking wouldnt be an option...i know how it feels i just wouldnt want my child to be spanked thats all.
fact vs fiction...did the pastor spank him? YES did the child deserve it? YES is it being blown way out of proportion? YES is it REALLY child abuse? NO...come on ppl...be real, stop worrying about other ppls business and care for yourself...i know its hard but sometimes its just necessary! ;)
Remember that in the wake of the real child abuse, there is a greater sensitivity and thus some are.. trigger happy now. And many are of course anti-Church. Please God this is resolved swiftly and safely.
That was blown WAY out of proportion! I was spanked as a Kid and I say Thank God!
Spare the rod, you get America. (aka the young generation of Americans have no discipline at all)
me and all of my friend who were spanked as children turned out well LOL i don't think spanking should the only form of discipline, but it definitely has its place as long as it's not abusive. i don't think that in most cases a spanking is abusive though...unless you're using a birch rod 25 times or something!
i think it's dumb to arrest the pastor, although 12 does seem a bit old to still be spanking. at that point the kid is old enough to understand other types of discipline fully.
You don't offer near enough information for a response to the question. The child saying he deserved it has NO bearing on the case (I would assume he is brainwashed anyway). The doctor saying he didn't consider it abuse doesn't help--what do we know of this doctor or what he would consider abuse?
The essential elements of the case (both left out of the article): 1) what does the law state? 2) what did the father do to the son?
To those who believe this pastor was right to spank this child, I'd like to ask you what purpose it would serve. This child is 12, and yet he is lying to his parents? That problem began long ago, and as you can see, the parents way of handling it (presumably spanking) has not worked!
Personally, I don't believe any child should ever be hit, spanked, or otherwise harmed by parents. Whether they should be charged with a felony if they do is another topic altogether (I believe education is the answer to the problem of parents relying on hitting their children in order to get desired results).
I don't think it's abuse. Proverbs clearly states:
13:24 He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
19:18 Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death
23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
I do not think that 12 is too old to spank. There is no set age where spanking is "too old", it is different for every child. However, I do think that the father should have dealt with the issue of lying earlier on so he would not have to spank his 12 year old son.
Well, of course the parents' hearts ache when they have to resort to spanking their children, but it IS a form of discipline as long they're not spanking out of hatred.
@TexSis@xanga -
It is very possible that the parents avoided using spanking to discipline him and attempted other methods. Maybe they felt this was their last option to convey the seriousness of what their son was doing.
"I would assume he is brainwashed anyway."
Why on earth do you assume that? (o_O)
Discipline means "teaching" and guiding....discipling someone. That's where the word "disciples" comes from. Jesus was teaching them, mentoring them. They were learning from him. He was not spanking them. It's funny how the word "discipline" has come to mean "spankiing" or "punishing."
That being said, it appears as if this dad was using judicious spanking - carefully planned out - not in the heat of an angry moment - two swats, for a repeated offense...this child was lying, over and over, and was being defiant. Spanking does not always work with every child, but maybe the father had tried other things and had specific consequences for specific, repeated offenses.
I think the social service system needs to concentrate on the kids who are really in danger....the kids whose parents don't care and let them raise themselves.
I guess a pastor has a reputation to keep up
I think this is blown way out of proportion. It's just spanking!Â
But I guess it does depends. I mean, if he spank his son everyday, there is something seriously wrong.@TexSis@xanga - The facts are these: Wisconsin law does not prohibit a parent from spanking their child...however, it can be construed as abuse if a bruise is left. In this case, the child still had red marks on his behind the next day. The prosecution is arguing that the red marks are the same as a "bruise" and so the father should be prosecuted. I think that answers both of your questions. The child repeatedly disobeyed his father (he testifies that he was warned several times before the actual spanking) and the father spanked him.
Hopefully the poor man won't be convicted or child abuse laws in many other states could start being used to keep parents from spanking their child.
I, for one, believe very strongly in the Biblical commands that spanking is necessary. Other forms of discipline are needed as well, but parents can't discount spanking entirely.
BunnyBliz's quote: "I would assume he is brainwashed anyway."
Why on earth do you assume that? (o_O)"
My assumption that the son is probably brainwashed anyway is based on the fact the child believed he deserved the spanking. In my opinion, human beings who believe they deserve physical punishment (whether child or grown-up) have been brainwashed into believing that they do not have the right to live life without violence thrust upon them. It takes brainwashing to convince a person that he or she deserves to be physically harmed (becaue this idea is neither natural, nor logical).
Our country's laws support such an idea, as well. If anyone walks up to you on the street (or someone you know) and "hits" you even once, then that person has committed an assault, punishable by law. The morals in our country dictate a definition of assault and that assault is illegal. Yet it remains legal to assault children?
Bunny's quote: "Maybe they felt this was their last option to convey the seriousness of what their son was doing."
My response: The child has lied before and has been spanked for lying before. Did it work? No, we have proof because he has just done it again. So their so-called "last resort option" repeatedly fails. Sounds as if they need a new plan, with a new "first option" as well as a new "last option."