El Sobrante, Calif. – Parents who belong to Bethel Baptist Church in El Sobrante are told in no uncertain terms: Spank your children or oppose God’s will.
The church, which also runs the 200-student Bethel Christian Academy, discourages parents from using their hands and recommends using a “rod” or flexible stick to swat children until their will is broken. But an eight-panel church pamphlet with corporal punishment instructions does caution against using instruments such as hairbrushes, cords and 2-by-4s.
“Corporal punishment is not something you do to the child, it’s something you do for the child,” said Bethel Pastor David Sutton, who wrote the pamphlet. “Your goal as a parent is to correct the child or get him back on the right path.”
Parents who do not practice corporal punishment are depriving their children of the only method God says produces wisdom, and risk directly opposing God’s will, according to the pamphlet.
Though the pamphlet does not describe anything unlawful, Contra Costa County Children and Family Services is concerned about the church’s policy, CFS division manager Stacie Buchanan said.
“There’s a very fine line between discipline and abuse,” she said. “If you go over the line, you risk having us involved.”
Determining abuse can be tricky, depending to some degree on a parent’s attitude, Buchanan said. State law defines physical abuse as any corporal punishment that results in injury or a traumatic condition such as severe bruising.
“If it’s a mark that might go away in a day, that’s excessive and would cause alarm, but does not constitute abuse,” Buchanan said.
The debate over spanking goes beyond just one church’s policy, and a bill making its way through the state assembly could force changes at Bethel Baptist.
