Spare the Rod?

After the recent release of a video showing a Texas Judge abusing his child and the death of three children at the hands of parents in possession of a book which promotes the virtue of corporal punishment, physical discipline within the household is coming under increased scrutiny. The book, titled To Train a Child, is written by an evangelical pastor and his wife, Michael and Debbie Pearl, and has sold nearly three quarters of a million copies throughout the United States, schooling its readers on the proper way to beat a child into submission.

Given the book's wide fan base and the small number of deaths - three confirmed - it doesn't make sense to directly attribute the deranged actions of the few solely to the guidance of the Pearls. This, however, does not excuse the authors who have made a career out of cloaking their affinity toward child abuse under the veil of religious zeal.

Pearl attempts - and ultimately fails - to make a comparison between his book and the Alcoholics Anonymous hand book. "If you find a 12-step book in an alcoholic's house, you wouldn't blame the book." No, of course you wouldn't because the 12-step book is designed to guide people away from their affliction. Pearl's book, on the other hand, only encourages the impulses of the deranged, giving them biblical justification to indulge in their abusive urges.