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 | Conservatives Protestants have become the main supporters of corporal punishment of children, probably because of their belief in the inerrancy of the Bible, and the frequent advocacy in the book of Proverbs of spanking as the preferred method to discipline children. Many feel that abandoning spanking will leave their children undisciplined and lead to increased lawlessness and violence in society as those children reach adulthood. |
| Most child psychologists, religious liberals, secularists, and others now oppose spanking. Children are probably not too keen on it either. From their reactions, it is obvious that they regard spanking as a terrorist act. |
| The trend in North American culture seems to be to abandon spanking in favor of other methods of child discipline, except among the conservative Protestant community. |
| Studied conducted over many decades have shown that even a minor amount off spanking increases the likelihood of children growing up into adults with problems of alcoholism, drug abuse, anxiety and depression. |
The use of the word "spanking" to refer to the discipline of children appears to be largely a North American term. In Britain, it is generally called "smacking; the word "spanking" often has sexual overtones.
Status of corporal punishment:
Corporal punishment in schools was/is:
| Banned in Taiwan in 2006-DEC. This became became the 109th country to ban all school corporal punishment. |
| Banned in all 175 Catholic Diocesan School Systems in the U.S., according to a survey by the National Coalition to Abolish Corporal Punishment in Schools. |
| Banned in 28 states of the U.S. |
| Is legal in Utah with the permission of a parent or guardian. However. it is not widely practiced in the state. Most school districts there have a formal ban in place. |
| Still permitted in some public and private schools in the U.S. |
| Becoming more popular in Kentucky. |
Spanking generally is:
| About to be banned in South Africa. The government passed the Children's Amendment Bill in 2007-JUN over the opposition of some conservative religious groups. If signed into law, it would remove parents right to use the defence of "reasonable chastisement" in court. |
| Promoted by many conservative Protestant leaders and organizations. |
| Opposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and many other professional associations. |
| Prone to being escalated to a lethal level. The Department of Health and Human Services and the New England Journal of Medicine estimate that 1,000 to 2,000 children die every year in the U.S. from corporal punishment that has gotten out of control. They estimate that 142,000 are seriously injured annually. 1 |
Our group's opinions and biases:
| We feel that the debate corporal punishment of children is one of the most important, current, religiously-based, conflicts in North America. | ||||
| In the past, studies into spanking have been inconclusive. Those researchers who initially opposed spanking generally found that it was dangerous and ineffective. Those who initially supported spanking typically found that it was safe and effective. This is fairly common in such studies: the researchers' original opinions tend to be confirmed by the data that they collect. | ||||
| However, recent, longitudinal and objective studies in Ontario, Canada and New Zealand definitely show that even moderate spanking can have devastating results for a minority of children -- particularly males -- that only become obfious after they reach adulthood. | ||||
| We suspect that when the results of some of these large, long-term behavioral studies become generally known, that many parents will stop spanking their children. | ||||
| The stakes are extremely high:
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The author's personal biases:
When writing essays on this web site, I try to just "tell it like it is" without allowing my personal beliefs or recommendations to intrude. I am making an exception here by adding this personal note, because I feel that the adverse consequences of spanking children are very serious.
A particularly large study in Ontario Canada has shown that, on average, children who are sometimes or often spanked experience a higher level of anxiety, severe depression, alcoholism, and/or drug addiction in adulthood. About one in seven children experiences more than one of these problems.
Dr. James Dobson, child psychologist and head of the fundamentalist Christian organization Focus on the Family, has written a a very popular book "The new strong willed child." There are many other similar and successful books by other conservative Christian authors that advocate spanking. The Ontario study shows that, on average, for every ten children who is being brought up in a family where the parents follow the corporal punishment recommendations in one of these books and employ spanking as a main discipline method, one more child will be destined to suffer from more than one of the above disorders during adulthood.
I have a hunch that if all parents replaced spanking with other methods of discipline there would be a major reduction in adult mental health problems and addiction within a generation.
In this section, you will read that:
| The book of Proverbs in the Bible -- traditionally believed to have been written by King Solomon -- strongly recommended corporal punishment of children. |
| Many Evangelical Christian leaders favor spanking. |
| There is an alternate interpretation of the Bible's message about spanking -- that strong physical discipline can lead to vicious, bullying, and hateful behavior when a child becomes an adult. |
| Some countries have outlawed spanking, both in the home and at school. |
| Some child protection services In North America regard any corporal punishment that leaves marks on the skin to be abuse. |
| A massive, long-term study in Ontario shows that spanking of children often causes problems in adulthood, including anxiety, major depression, drug addiction and alcohol addiction. |
| One in three boys in New Zealand has a mood-altering gene which will cause 85% of them to engage in criminal and antisocial behavior later in life, if they are seriously abused during childhood. The study has not yet investigated whether moderate levels of spanking will also trigger this behavior. There is little reason to believe that this same gene does not exist in males in North America. |
Angry with our website?
Since we explain all viewpoints on spanking, you are certain to see material in this section that is offensive to you. Please do not write us a complaint letter, unless you feel that we have misrepresented your position.
Please direct your Emails to the pro- or anti-spanking groups with which you disagree.
Books about spanking:
Dr. Murray Straus of the University of New Hampshire is one of the world's leading experts in family violence, including the spanking of children. His year 2001 book compares commonly held beliefs about spanking with the results of carefully made studies about the negative effects of spanking. This is a book aimed at the general public. Customer rating at both Barnes & Noble and Amazon.co, is five stars out of five.
Murray Straus, "Beating the Devil Out of Them: Corporal Punishment in American Children," Transaction Publishers, (2nd edition; 2001) Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
Amazon.com is an online bookstore. A search of their books on spanking and corporal punishment produced the following list. If a generic Amazon image appears, click on your browser's refresh key:
Please proceed to the main spanking menu
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References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
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Holly Rossi, "Sparing the Rod," Beliefnet.com, 2005-FEB, at: http://www.beliefnet.com/
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Robert Fathman, "2006 ends with very good news about school corporal punishment," 2006-DEC-15, at: http://nospank.net/
Copyright © 2002 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2008-JAN-29
Author: B.A. Robinson
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