Smacking laws - are we impinging on religion?

[nect4r]

I was thinking about the smacking ban today, and was wondering.. What are the various religions view of corporal punishment towards children?

Are we encroaching on their rights to practise their religion if we ban smacking? e.g. in the Bible, the Book of Proverbs 23:13 states: "The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to itself disgraces its mother."

[ummmm]

It also says something along the line of 'A chastised child is a loved child'

I'm not for beating kids (as happened to many of our parents) but there is a line. If that line is crossed then a smack will not do them any harm.

I'm talking from the view point of a person who loves her kids, wouldn't want to hurt them, tries to bring them up to be respectful and honest with a god set of morals.

[redcrx]

Im not a religious person so wouldnt follow what the bible says but would do what i feel right as a parent and following how my parents brought me and my siblings up.

My son is 16 months old and has had a lightly smacked bottom, usually when hes got halfway up the stairs and is trying to jump down them. Ive tried reasoning which does not work at that age and i suppose to let him learn from his mistakes could result in a fatal fall so undertsandably i wont go down that route.

My parents smacked when we were younger. But i can honestly say i cant recall a time when i was smacked. Maybe 4getmenot can (I know my brother can, after killing the school gerbil) but i cant. We grew up to be respectfull and sensible adults, well i did anyway :)

[ummmm]

I didn't think there was a smacking ban. I thought they just changed the rules. So now you are not allowed to use an instrument such as a belt or a slipper.

[snagged]

As a kid, I was always last to finish my dinner... my dad would sit opposite me - wooden spoon in hand, asking every 30 seconds 'have you finished yet?'... invariably I hadn't... and got a smack with the wooden spoon until I had... now , even if I'm absolutely stuffed, I feel I 'must' clear my plate... so I think smacking can definately have longer term effects...

[ummmm]

Of course it can. It's a very fine line. If one of my kids didn't eat their dinner I'd take it away and wouldn't allow them to eat again till the next morning. No shouting, no smacking. On the other hand, One of my children spat in the face of the other so I smacked him and put him to bed.

[noxlumos]

I never smack, or raise my voice, it's unnecessary. My kids are all free thinking, polite intelligent people who also don't feel the need to be agressive either towards adults or children. My own father beat the ***** out of me nearly everyday, breaking my arm and fingers, burning me, cutting me and eventually fracturing my skull on two seperate occasions, neither time did they take me to hospital, hence I have significant long term issues, memory, tremors, mood swings,anger and aggresion problems, odd sensation etc. Thankfully he was killed when I was seven. I appreciate that he was the exception rather than the rule to parents that think it's ok to hit, but he coloured the way I parent and I know that smacking is never necessary from personal experience of my own children's upbringing so I can never see why it's such a popularly held method of discipline. some really very nice, intelligent, decent people smack their kids, how and why can you come to that conclusion?

[nect4r]

Thanks for your answers everyone, but I was hoping for stuff which was more religion related... :)

[B00]

I think Noxy alot of it is fear.....I know i smacked my eldest when she was toddler on several occasion when she frightened the crap out of me with whatever she was about to do!

I know I've spoken to you before about child smacking- at the moment I'm sitting on the fence with regards to Mini Boo. As of yet i haven't had occasion to merit smacking or punishing her. Though on the odd occasion when she's pushed me I did find that sternly telling her off just resulted in her killing herself laughing at me, hardly the result I was after!!!

[B00]

Oh 'eck- sorry nect4r....know nowt about religion so I'll shush now.

[Octavius]

Contrary to what redcrx has said above I am a religious person but we don�t all follow all of the bible laws � that would be inherently stupid, particularly in the 21st C. I would still follow the common sense approach mentioned by redcrx. Although people have the freedom to follow whatever religion they like, they can only do so within the realms of the law of the land. As far as I understood, as a parent, you have a legal right to smack your child. However, if the violence you use is severe enough to leave a mark, for example a scratch or a bruise, you can be prosecuted for assault, or the child can be taken into local authority care. There is a fine line of course, but I don�t think it would be fair or morally correct to say that those who overstep the mark have any right to do so because of their religion or otherwise.

[noxlumos]

Well certainly Octavius is right, you can only follow the model of your religion within the law of whatever land you are living in.There are lots of instances in all religions where religious and secular law contradict each other, but especially in a society such as ours where many religions dwell within the same country, there can never be any serious argument that civil law must be obeyed ahead and above of anyone's religious beliefs.

[Octavius]

If someone breaks the law, they are simply breaking the law and should therefore expect to face the appropriate penalty as set out in our legal system. Religion is only tolerated to the extent that in practicing it, you do not break the law. For instance, animal sacrifice as written in the bible (and most religious scripture) is tolerated to an extent (this is done every day in abattoirs) - but step outside common law or modern morality (i.e. human sacrifice as dictated by some religions such as muti and Tantrism) and you face the wrath of most legal systems. Just because the bible says that we should sacrifice a calf, don�t mean I will pop down to the local farmyard to give it a go. Similarly, whatever religion we practice any wedding ceremony that takes place in the UK, must have a civil registration to be recognised under UK law. The problem occurs when you have a society that tries to rule by laws of the land (civil laws) and those of a particular god (such as Sharia law for example) co-dependently.

[noxlumos]

I just read what I put,DUH!!!, that should read:-
"there should never be any serious argument. Civil law should be obeyed ahead of religious law".