[RR] Don't Spare the Rod

[Bob Simons]

Heres an article about spanking. They Don't Spare the Rod The Bible commands corporal punishment. Social workers take the kids. BY MEGHAN COX GURDON Friday, August 17, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT As Americans were tucking into their Fourth of July barbecues this year, a crowd was watching aghast as social workers and police in Canada dragged seven children screaming from their Aylmer, Ontario, home. "There was a six-year-old girl with policemen carrying her by her arms and legs, and the fear in that kid's face was unbelievable," neighbor Ernie Timmins told reporters. "The screeching was so unbearable I had to leave." The pretext for this Elian-like raid? The parents, German-speaking members of the Church of God, a Mennonite sect, had refused to promise child-welfare officials that they would not use rods or switches to discipline their children. Social workers, who had first visited the family after receiving a tip that the parents were not using their hands to spank their children, were apparently willing to leave the family intact provided the parents changed their method of corporal punishment. The parents refused, saying the use of a rod or switch is sanctioned by the Bible. Neighbors scoff at the idea that the parents abused the children. "The kids are nice and clean, well-dressed and well-disciplined," one man told the National Post newspaper. "I live right beside them," said Mr. Timmins. "I'm sure I would have seen something that seemed suspicious." Ontario law permits parents to spank children with their bare hands. Congregants of the Church of God, however, say their hands should be instruments of affection. With scriptural support, they believe corporal punishment is a crucial part of child rearing that should only be carried out with objects such as sticks or belts. Canadian anti-spanking campaigners call this child abuse. Biblical justification for the Church of God's practices appears in the Book of Proverbs: "Withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell." It is difficult to imagine a sentence more at odds with modern Canadian sensibilities. Unlike the U.S., Canada is an aggressively secular country in which, tellingly, political prudence requires the concealment of Christian faith rather than its unembarrassed display. The raid prompted an exodus of families from Aylmer's Church of God. Within two weeks, more than 100 mothers and children fled Canada for fear that they might be next to face punitive scrutiny. Roughly half have made their way to sister churches in Indiana and Ohio. The rest have sought refuge in a Church of God community in Cuauhtemoc, Mexico. According to Henry Hildebrandt, pastor of the Church of God in Aylmer, his parishioners will return to Canada only when they receive assurance that their children won't be abducted by the state because of their beliefs. Dozens of families are reportedly considering seeking asylum in the U.S. What makes this tale of apparent religious persecution especially piquant is that Canada endlessly preens about its own "tolerance" and "multiculturalism"--qualities that would seem to be missing in the Aylmer case. At the same time, this paradox is unsurprising: A significant swath of Canadian public opinion thinks that, in matters of child rearing, the state knows best. Before the federal election last fall there was widespread debate over whether the government had a social duty to provide a national day-care system. The debate was less over whether children are best raised at home or in government-run facilities than over the potential cost. Callers to talk radio complained that stay-at-home mothers are leeches who ought to be out working so as to pay taxes to fund day care. Such are the odd parameters of Canada's debate over raising children. It is in this context that the Aylmer case should be seen. After three weeks in foster care, meanwhile, the seven Aylmer children are back at home under an interim arrangement with the family court. Their parents have agreed to spare the rod while the matter is adjudicated. Carole-Anne Vatcher, a Toronto social worker, told an interviewer that she's happy that the children are home but concerned that physical chastisement will continue. "A victory in this case would be for these kids to go home and their parents to stop hitting them altogether," she said. It is the parents, of course, who need to be disciplined. Mrs. Gurdon is a writer living in Toronto. Bob Simons   For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer. 29:11 [EMAIL PROTECTED]