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Article: No Greater Joy: Another child dead from Biblical child-rearing advice

  1. No Greater Joy: Another child dead from Biblical child-rearing advice

    12 Comments by Exy Published on 03 Mar 2010 02:01 PM
    A new story entry has been added:

    No Greater Joy: Another child dead from Biblical child-rearing advice

    Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6
    A couple, with nine children, beat one of them to death and left another in critical condition with kidney failure, while following the teachings on child discipline promulgated by Michael and Debi Pearl, which are very popular in the fundamentalist Christian community and in particular the Christian homeschooling movement. Here's the story at Salon, and check out the links in it, particularly

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  3. #2
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Good but horrific article.

    If a child flees, don't chase him. Wait and allow time for the tension to go out of the air. Slowly pursue him, explaining that he cannot win. If it takes a long time, that s fine. Go to his hiding place and laugh at his frail attempts. Michael Pearl
    This is one of the worst things I have ever read. It sounds like the ravings of a madman, a cruel and evil person. He is promoting the terrorizing of small children.

  4. #3
    The Apostabulous Inner Stickler's avatar
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    Ugh. That reminds me of an essay I had to read for a theology class detailing how a minister broke the will of his 15 month old son through starvation. Link/ It's that same "for their own good" argument.
    I don't think so, therefore I'm probably not.

  5. #4
    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    My biggest problem with religion - any religion - is that it allows people to justify to themselves doing the most evil shit imaginable. Whether it's owning other human beings as slaves; flying planes into buildings; or apparently, beating your own kids to death; there's a sacred text out there to tell you it's OK. And we're not talking about twisting things or taking them out of context: most of the time, the justification is right there in the plain reading of the text.
    "You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because I'm on nitrous."

    find me at Goodreads

  6. #5
    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'll never stop saying it. Religious fundamentalism is the greatest threat mankind has ever faced and if we continue to allow it to not only spread, but to flourish insidiously like a black mold creeping through the framework of western civilization it will be the end of us all.
    Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.

  7. #6
    I've had better days, but I don't care! hatesfreedom's avatar
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    This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it!

  8. #7
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    I read Michael and Debi Pearl's book To Train up a Child when I was a teenager. One of my mother's clients gave it to her and signed her up for their newsletter. Very appreciated. I lovingly called it How to Beat a Child.

    If your goal is to traumatize children and treat them like evil terrorists--which is how they're described in the book--then you could not possibly come up with a better plan for raising your children.

  9. #8
    Sophmoric Existentialist
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    Quote Originally posted by Cluricaun View post
    I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'll never stop saying it. Religious fundamentalism is the greatest threat mankind has ever faced and if we continue to allow it to not only spread, but to flourish insidiously like a black mold creeping through the framework of western civilization it will be the end of us all.
    I agree totally.
    Sophmoric Existentialist

  10. #9
    Yes, I'm a cat. What's it to you? Muffin's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Cluricaun View post
    I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'll never stop saying it. Religious fundamentalism is the greatest threat mankind has ever faced and if we continue to allow it to not only spread, but to flourish insidiously like a black mold creeping through the framework of western civilization it will be the end of us all.
    Word.

  11. #10
    A Groupie Marsilia's avatar
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    The Pearls, of course, claim that "training" a child is not abuse, and they warn parents not to spank children while they're angry.
    So, it's better to calmly beat and terrorize your child. Got it.

    Psycho freaks.

  12. #11
    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    The thing that gets me the worst is that these fuckers are organized like some sort of massive underground Nazi party (yeah, I Godwinned it, so what? They actually deserve it) and they still insist that there's some sort of conspiracy to repress them. The Liberal Homosexual Athiests are everywhere! They're trying to destroy our way of life!

    And there are a lot of us, but jesus christ are we a shambling mess of disorganized half starts and undeveloped ideas. The thing is that we're not at all organized and that there isn't something like The Knights of Dawkins out there actually combating these fucking loons is a tacit allowance for these kinds of things to continue and spread as they continue to solidify their positions while the rest of us fiddle away as Rome burns around us. And by the time they do get the balls to step as boldly forward as they really want to and we end up with some batshit crazy almost-like-The-Stand kind of laws passed in some forgotten "fly over" portion of our country and they start crucifying teenage girls who get pregnant in Topeka it'll be too late to really do anything about it.

    There is a culture war happening right now that makes the 1960's look like a joke, and it scares me to death that we're not fighting back with every ounce of our resolve.
    Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.

  13. #12
    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Cluricaun View post
    The thing is that we're not at all organized and that there isn't something like The Knights of Dawkins out there...
    Let's remedy that.

    Repeat after me: I hereby solemnly pledge my clue-by-four, and the arm that wields it, to the service of the Knights of Dawkins, now and forever.

    OneCentStamp, KoD
    "You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because I'm on nitrous."

    find me at Goodreads

  14. #13
    aka ivan the not-quite-as-terrible ivan astikov's avatar
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    Hey, coolio. Does that mean we get to be like non-denominational Crusaders and shit?
    To sleep, perchance to experience amygdalocortical activation and prefrontal deactivation.

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