Would Jesus Smack a Child?

As New Zealand prepares to vote in referendum on whether or not it is acceptable to smack children, Glynn Cardy takes a stand that the church has too long with held. Just as the church once justified beating upppity slaves and wives it has used "spare the rod, spoil the child" to justify violence against children. It is time to change the culture. "Throughout history it has been considered self-evident that all people were not created equal. Only men, particularly those of wealth and high-class, were considered fully human. Women, slaves, servants, and children weren’t. Being less than fully human they belonged to a man. They also needed to be corrected and disciplined by that man or his surrogates. Physically punishing and beating children, women, and servants has been normative for centuries." Read the full text at http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=498&id=940.