Another sad case of dominionist child abuse

[bobbieinok]

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/4/13/101336/724

Another sad case of dominionist child abuse
By dogemperor Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 10:13:36 AM EST

From the Florida Sun-Sentinel, there's been yet another case of religiously motivated child abuse--this, too, being "deliverance ministry" related, and one that is all too common.

....


'When Michael Bilodeau couldn't be there to see his 12-year-old daughter stripped and whipped with a belt, he made sure to listen in on a speakerphone from his Coral Springs home, according to police reports.
She deserved it, he told investigators, because she was a liar and "it is stated in the Bible that it is OK to spank your children," the reports said.

....

Bilodeau, who is listed as running a Fort Lauderdale office furniture business, lives with his wife and two sons in Coral Springs. Three years ago, he and his wife decided they couldn't take care of their daughter, so they sent her to live with a couple they were friends with in Port St. Lucie, he told police. He made sure the friends had similar religious beliefs.
He allowed them to punish her like he did: strip her naked, put her in an awkward position and strike her repeatedly with a belt or a stick, according to Bilodeau's arrest report. The punishments came in response to the girl not using proper English, not finishing her homework, lying, or "not accepting Jesus into her heart," police have said.

(Bolded emphasis mine)
Yes, you read this right--this apparently is very similar to cases involving use of dominionist baby-beating manuals by the Pearls, one of which is linked to the death of a child; it's also similar to the tactics promoted by Tedd Tripp, another dominionist "baby-beating" manual author. Both books promote the use of "chastening rods" made out of wood or PVC pipe, and both also have heavy emphasis on "deliverance ministry" and the general concept that all children are born with "spirits of rebellion" which must literally be beaten out and that the will of children must be broken completely to "save" them.

....

I have emphasized, again, two bits--one where he admits to use of a "chastening rod", and the other being a point I have seen brought up repeatedly even in James Dobson's "The Strong-Willed Child"--that a child must be made to hurt if a punishment is to be "effective" and (in the more blatant "chastening" manuals) recommendations of whacking on bare buttocks. (In fact, at least one dominionist church's guide on "child training" specifically recommends whacking on the bare bum, and another dominionist guide (which promotes use of belts for baby-beating) even states "stripes are necessary"--in other words, if it doesn't leave marks, it's not a proper "chastening".)

much,much more....

Of especial concern are the laws permitting whipping found on the books in many states.

(from the article)

Not only that, but in areas with large dominionist influence the existing laws on the books either have large enough loopholes to sail the HMS Queen Mary II through or are extremely laxly enforced. An example is the following list of Tennessee Department for Youth and Families intake records where it was specified in section D(1)(b) that "developmentally-appropriate, discipline-related marks and bruises on the buttocks or legs" of children over 5 should not be regarded as evidence of abuse. Another document, this from the state of Colorado, states that whacking adolescents with the metal buckle of a belt used in flogging is permissible.

...dominionists are attempting to gut the present child-abuse laws (usually claiming these laws interfere with the ability of parents to "discipline their children as they see fit") thus making it actually easier to hide dominionist child abuse--in fact, part of how "homeschool" correspondence-schools are sold to dominionist parents are because (increasingly) public schools are abandoning corporal punishment and that in a correspondence-school program one can spank or beat children.

In fact--and this is something that should shock every American--the United States is the only country in the world that is presently not a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child....

The reason that the US is the solitary country that has not signed on is because dominionist groups have been fighting approval tooth and nail--claiming that its provisions that state that children have a fundamental human right not to be abused would prohibit them from "disciplining their children as they see fit".


more....

[YouthInAsia]

1. I'm quite sure that beating someone will assist them in

"accepting Jesus into their heart." These ppl are psychotic. I truly believe that hyper-religion is a mental disorder

[PurpleChez]

2. God, protect me from your followers.

As a human being, I cringe. As a father, I want to cry. And then I want to whack some fundies with some PVC so hard they can't sit down to watch NASCAR for a week.

[bluesbassman]

10. These people aren't God's followers.

As a Christian, it turns my stomach to hear people like this claim to be followers of Christ. The "religion" they follow has nothing to do with Christ, and everything to do with their own warped viewpoint. Nowhere in my Bible did Jesus instruct us to beat our naked children.

[PurpleChez]

12. I can't honestly call myself a Christian anymore, but unlike many in my

position, I feel that the church and I parted on good terms. I wouldn't trade my upbringing for anything. So it makes me sick to see how successful these cretins have been in convincing each other and a good part of the rest of the country that God is a petty bigot just like them -- only bigger. The sad thing is...in their bible it DOES tell them to beat their naked children. They'll know those passages forwards and back. And only those passages. Only those that reinforce their nasty, hateful, greedy power trip. I wish there were more people like you -- people who are both progressive and people of faith, people who are willing to challenge the RW notion that God is a Bushie. Thanks for the post.

[bluesbassman]

15. Your observations are accurate

in that they quote scriptures that reinforce their distorted view. Unfortunately for them, those scriptures come chiefly from the Old Testament where it proved that man could not live righteously through his own efforts i.e. following the law. These people are ignorant to God's true intention for man, and that is to be reconciled through faith and faith alone. The purpose behind returning to the bondage of the law is control and control alone. If a "preacher" or "church leader" is telling you how to live and act, then who is in control? Certainly not the one being "taught", and neither is God.

Thanks for the kind word, I think there are more people who are progressive and people of faith out there than you would suspect. After all, Jesus was the ultimate progressive.

[Dunvegan]

3. Where's the lawsuits on behalf of these children?

Does anyone know if there are actions afoot to remove these children from what are clearly abusive homes?

This does qualify as abuse, does it not?

[bobbieinok]

13. dogemperor has several articles about the dominionist demand

that children be beaten; for example,

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/3/16/132347/107

Death by "chastening rod"
By dogemperor Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 01:23:47 PM EST
I had the very unfortunate experience this morning of reading, via the following news article, of a death directly attributed to childrearing methods promoted by dominionist child-rearing authors Michael and Debbie Pearl--who operate a website called No Greater Joy and who have published several books.
These books and online guides are nothing more or less than a guide to religiously motivated child abuse--as even the state of Tennessee and numerous child welfare agencies have testified.

And the Pearls, sadly, are by no means alone at promoting this. In fact, in the more hardline dominionist community--the same ones promoting "deliverance ministry"--it's all too common.
....

I have done research on religiously-motivated child abuse, and one of the true examples of "Talk To Action" is Stop The Rod which was founded by Christian parenting groups who were gravely concerned about the techniques promoted by the Pearls.

As I have documented in a thread on Dark Christianity as well as on Talk 2 Action and will now document here, "highlights" from the Pearls include:


Examples from the Pearls (which also have published a series of baby-beating manuals popular in the dominionist community and which are often included with the sale of chastening rods and similar "Biblical chastening devices"; they operate a website, No Greater Joy (also the title of one of their manuals on baby-beating the dominionist way) that promotes the same advise online;

much, much more....

dogemperor monitors dominionism; google for works by dogemperor

[Dunvegan]

16. Thank you for the pointer...

...off to peruse dogemperor's investigations into these misleading Dominionist authors and their misled lunatic audience.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. This article is certainly disturbing, but this sentence just jumped

out at me:

"He made sure the friends had similar religious beliefs.
He allowed them to punish her like he did: strip her naked, put her in an awkward position and strike her repeatedly with a belt or a stick, according to Bilodeau's arrest report"

Am I reading something into this that isn't there, or does this seem to have some kind of sexual connotation? Also, is this why so many fundies don't see the treatment of prisoners in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib as torture?

These people are sick.

[Mabus]

9. The Abu Ghraib thought came to me too

Somehow it does make sense. Very disturbing but it does make sense.

[Richard D]

5. Sick fucks.

Gotta wonder if they get erections when beating a naked 12 year old girl.
Sick sick sick.

[BrklynLiberal]

7. My exact thoughts.

Do you have to be sick to be a part of this Dominionist cult, or does being a part of it make you sick?

[niyad]

6. here in the fundamentalist haven of fungus and new life, there are few

serious penalties for abusing your children, and most abuse is considered a misdemeanor. one can actually get a harsher sentence for abusing one's dog than one's child.

that article is frightening and sobering, and should be passed on everywhere.

[mzteris]

8. sign the petition

http://stoptherod.net/

[bobbieinok]

14. please check out this link....truly horrific site

see, for example, this link from the site

http://www.geocities.com/cddugan/RoyLessinOpenLetter.html

September 7, 2005
Open Letter to Roy Lessin
Author of Spanking: Why, When, How
....

My first spanking was when I was six months old. My mother spanked me for crying after she put me to bed. She had to spank me repeatedly to teach me to not cry when she put me down. I know about this incident because my mother used to tell all new mothers about how young I was when she started spanking me. My last spanking occurred when I was thirteen years old. The Roy Lessin spankings that I remember most vividly took place between the ages of three and seven, because I hardly went a few days without a spanking at that time. I'd like to share with you, and others, what it was like receiving a Roy Lessin spanking.

much more horrible info

[Sarah Ibarruri]

11. Can't wait till this @$$hole that beat his daughter does the perp walk.

Hopefully he'll have to share a cell in prison.