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In Reply to: James Penn was wrong posted by Ben Dere on February 15, 2005 at 08:59:36:
although I agree with you about the doctrines, I believe you are referring to me when I talked about spanking children. My point I was trying to make - which I think has been misunderstood - is that spanking children has been something that has gone on for eons and only now are they lightening up on it. Spanking a child is not considered child abuse - per se - unless there are bruises or it is very harsh. Things my mother did nearly 50 years ago I suppose would be considered child abuse today, but she was definitely not a child abuser, it was the norm in those days. I'm trying to separate the doctrines from normal life. Some people think it's ok to slap a child's hand to warn them or stop them from doing something naughty, some people don't - that's different parenting styles.
What Berg did to Mene was horrific and that was definitely severe child abuse. Now that was Berg's doctrine. As well as the teen training camps, silence restrictions, lengthy beatings with a rod of some sort for nothing more than being fussy or so-called disrespectful. Then there's using the children as work horses so that they are not allowed a proper education, denying them that education so they can raise money for their parents. That is child abuse.
