When I was a kid,I would have rather have gotten a spanking with a wooden spoon that weighs less than a half-pound than a paddle that the principle of the grade school used when I was there. This paddle had to have been about five pounds and about 3 feet long. But that's besides the point I want to make here.
There are times when sending a kid to their room isn't good enough. Society today has spanking and child abuse so confused. A couple of swats with a hand or a paddle is not even close to the same as physically beating a child with the intent to injure. There is a vast difference.
You are comparing apples and oranges here. I am talking about correcting a child by spanking them,not blood sacrifices.
It is a parents right to correct their child as they see fit. I do not advocate beating or abusing a child,but spankings are most times needed to "get their attention". Have you ever tried to calmly talk to a screaming three year old that is throwing a tantrum? Good luck with that. My main issue with what the government did that it overstepped its authority here. Separation of Church and State goes both ways.The government needs to stay out of the pulpit.
Take a look at the stories you referenced here and see that yes,there were kings that took 700 wives and how in the end,many lost their kingdoms, or were killed Caesar style. Very rarely does it come to a "happy ending".Yes we have come along way in 3k years but in many ways,it has been in the wrong direction.
So where is that line drawn in which the over-reaching government can decide what can and can not be preached in the pulpit? Do I stop preaching that it is wrong that a man sleeps with another man's wife because that might "offend" some people? How about "Thou shalt not kill"? Maybe that's too judgmental and would bruise the self esteem of the murderer. As a christian,I am not here to coddle anyone and say that "All is just fine. Don't worry about it." That is one thing that greater majority of people don't like. They hate being challenged on how they live. So they will attempt to silence the source. This is the main gripe I have with this ruling. Because it has become an official government action.[/quote][/quote]
But it's not comparing apples to oranges at all. The original question about about government infringing on religious freedoms, specifically the freedom of speech and Magdelene pointed out that there are multiple other religious messages that are forbidden and/or not allowed, but yet you have no issues with those restrictions on free speech. It's not free speech to only hear what you want to hear. It's free speech, period. And yet there are restrictions on what can be said and where and most seem to have no problems with those cases because for the most part, it's common sense.
Yes, it is the parent's right to correct their children, too bad most don't do it on a regular basis. That being said, the preacher in the original story advocated using a wooden spoon on children under a year old. That isn't correcting your child, that is abuse. And don't say wooden spoons are that big a deal, my mother used them on my brothers and me growing up and still (jokingly) threatens us with spoons to this day. However, we weren't infants and it wasn't done in lieu of other options. Smacking a crying 3-year old on the butt once with your hand is correcting. Doing so multiple times veers into abuse territory.
Wrong direction? How so?
No, as a Christian you're here to turn the other cheek. Isn't that Jesus' teachings? His coming signaled the repeal and reformation of the more tyrannical OT laws set down by His Father. The laws and teachings of Jesus as described in the NT are the ones His followers are to believe in and follow.
Those that wish to silence those that they disagree with love to quote half the sentence. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." and that's where their quote stops.
