Tenn. minister Michael Pearl urges using a switch on babies
(NEWSER) - The deaths of three children have been linked to parents who reportedly own a popular but controversial spanking book by a Tennessee preacher. The book, To Train Up a Child, by Michael Pearl of the No Greater Joy Ministry, promotes using a switch on babies as young as 6 months and plumbing tubing on older children to keep them in line—much like "stubborn mules" are disciplined. Some 700,000 parents, many of them home-schoolers, have purchased the self-published tome, including parents who are either currently serving prison time or have been charged in the abuse and beating deaths of three young children in the last 5 years, reports the New York Times . Pearl says it's unfair to blame his book for the actions of unstable parents, but physicians and law enforcement authorities have expressed concerns about the book's role in child abuse. More»
