End all physical punishment of children

A  raging argument has been going on for years over the supposed need for hitting children as a means to gain their compliance. Child care professionals have largely reached consensus that spanking and verbal aggression pose serious risks to children, but parents strongly resist change. Many parents admit they do not like spanking their children but they do it anyway even though safer means are open to them.

Gradually the professional societies are changing their stance, convinced by the overwhelming scientific evidence. That will encourage more pediatricians, child development experts and therapists to officially adopt the zero tolerance position that eliminates the impasse that exists now on exactly how to define abuse. Current statutes are too loosly interpreted by the courts worldwide and there is never any accounting for the risk of depression or other mental problems. The message given parents must be unequivical. Never hit or humiliate a child for any reason.

Child rights advocates focus must shift to implementing needed cultural and political change. Like the laws against smoking that had such a demonstrable effect in helping smokers break the habit, a law against assaulting children will help many parents see that they really must reform. There is no legitimate reason to ever hit a vulnerable child for any circumstance.

CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE – online:
http://www.stophitting.com/index.php?page=poststatements

A Multi-pronged Approach to Ending Physical Punishment of Children in the United States

1. INDIVIDUALS HAVE A MORAL RESPONSIBILITY AND A ROLE IN ENDING PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN.
a. We must resolve not to hit our own children and to be knowledgeable about positive alternatives to physical punishment.
b. We should use terms that reflect the real nature of physical punishment like “hitting” rather than euphemisms like “swats” or “pops”.
c. In our professional roles, we should tell parents and caretakers not to hit children and provide alternatives.
d. We should support legal and educational reforms that lead to ending physical punishment of children.

2. EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS ROLE IN ENDING PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN.
a. Teacher Education, Social Work, Criminal Justice, Counseling, Nursing, medical education and all human services programs should integrate knowledge about the negative effects of physical punishment and the benefits of positive alternatives into the curricula.
b. All professional organizations should have a position statement opposing the physical punishment of children and work for and support public policy and legal reform which leads to the elimination of physical punishment of children.

3. STATES AND COMMUNITIES HAVE A ROLE IN ENDING PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN.
a. Physical punishment in schools should be banned.
b. Programs on the negative effects of physical punishment and the benefits of positive alternatives should be part of required training for teachers, staff and students in public schools.
c. Programs on the negative effects of physical punishment and the benefits of positive alternatives should be available and accessible to all parents.
d. All professionals with mandated reporting responsibility for child abuse should have appropriate training in the negative effects of physical punishment of children and the benefits of positive alternatives.
e. State laws should be reformed to make it a misdemeanor to strike a child.

4. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN HELP END PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN.
a. The Senate should ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.
b. The Surgeon General should establish a national blue ribbon task force on physical punishment of children and begin an educational campaign to end its use in all settings including homes.
c. Congress should require the prohibition of physical punishment in all laws regarding schools; foster care, institutional care and child care as a condition of federal funding.
d. All federally funded parent education programs should provide training on the negative effects of physical punishment and the benefits of positive alternatives.
e. Child abuse prevention grants should require that state programs focus activities on eliminating parental physical punishment of children and supporting positive alternatives.

-Adopted by the EPOCH-USA Advisory Board, June 2005.

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The value of believing in free will

Research Article
Encouraging a Belief in Determinism Increases Cheating

Kathleen D. Vohs
Department of Marketing, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota,

Jonathan W. Schooler
Department of Psychology,

University of British Columbia

ABSTRACT—Does moral behavior draw on a belief in free will? Two experiments examined whether inducing participants to believe that human behavior is predetermined would encourage cheating. In Experiment 1, participants read either text that encouraged a belief in determinism (i.e., that portrayed behavior as the consequence of environmental and genetic factors) or neutral text. Exposure to the deterministic message increased cheating on a task  in which participants could passively allow a flawed computer program to reveal answers to mathematical problems that they had been instructed to solve themselves. Moreover, increased cheating behavior was mediated by decreased belief in free will. In Experiment 2, participants who read deterministic statements cheated by overpaying themselves for performance on a cognitive task; participants who read statements endorsing free will did not. These findings suggest that the debate over free will has societal, as well as scientific and theoretical, implications.

We are always ready to take refuge in a belief in determinism if this freedom weighs upon us or if we need an excuse. (Sartre, 1943/1956, pp. 78–79)

The belief that one determines one’s own outcomes is strong  and pervasive. In a massive survey of people in 36 countries, more than 70% agreed with the statement that their fate is in their own hands (International Social Survey Programme, 1998). Yet the view from the scientific community is that behavior is caused by genes underlying personality dispositions, brain mechanisms, or features of the environment (e.g., Bargh, in press; Crick, 1994; Pinker, 2002). There is reason to think that  scientists’ sentiment is spreading to nonscientists. For example, the news magazine The Economist recently ran the headline, ‘‘Free to Choose? Modern Neuroscience Is Eroding the Idea of Free Will’’ (‘‘Free to Choose?’’ 2006). What would happen if people came to believe that their behavior is the inexorable product of a causal chain set into motion without their own volition? Would people carry on, selves and behavior unperturbed, or, as Sartre suggested, might the adoption of a deterministic worldview serve as an excuse for untoward behaviors?

Full article is here:

Source: “The Value of Believing in
Free Will: Encouraging a Belief in Determinism Increases Cheating,”
by Kathleen Vohs and JonathanSchooler,
Psychological Science(January 2008).
Association for Psychological Science,
1010 VermontAvenue, N.W., 11th Floor,
Washington, D.C. 20005.
Web site
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Recommended reading

Religionists often remark that they do not see a way to live without religion. Apparently they are unaware that approximately 2 billion people around the world live lives free of religious control. It is not difficult and now a new book by Eric Maisel tells you how it is done. Here are the reviews from leading freethinkers and authors:

 

“Eric Maisel is clearly the atheist’s Wizard of Oz to have created a book with such brains, so much heart, and a lion’s share of real courage.”
— Dale McGowan, PhD, editor of Parenting Beyond Belief and 2008 Harvard Humanist of the Year

“Millions of people lead happy, moral, loving, meaningful lives without believing in a god, and Eric Maisel explains in exquisite rational and compassionate detail how we do it.”
— Dan Barker, author of Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist and copresident of the Freedom from Religion Foundation

“I find Maisel’s writings more witty than Hitchens, more polished and articulate than Harris, and more informative and entertaining than Dawkins. A 5-star read from cover to cover!”
— David Mills, author of Atheist Universe

The Atheist’s Way offers a meaningful approach to life that is sublime, eloquent, and inspiring. This book is a true breath of fresh air.”
— Phil Zuckerman, PhD, author of Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us about Contentment

“Maisel provides a foundation for making meaning and living purposefully without supernatural intervention. A book to be relished by atheists, skeptics, humanists, freethinkers, and unbelievers everywhere.”
— Donna Druchunas, writer on Skepchick.org

“How do you bravely face the world as it is and create meaning for yourself without the crutch of a divine benefactor? Eric Maisel’s wise suggestions, musings, and insights are a wonderful resource for your quest.”
— John Allen Paulos, author of Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don’t Add Up

“Eric Maisel has given us a lovely, thoughtful book about belief outside of the narrow confines of organized religion. The Atheist’s Way offers an uplifting positive answer for anyone interested in how to live life without gods, superstitions or fairytales.”
— Nica Lalli, author of Nothing: Something to Believe In

“With this book, Eric Maisel does what none of the New Atheists have succeeded at doing: elaborating what atheists do believe.”
— Hemant Mehta, author of I Sold My Soul on eBay

Product Description

In The Atheist’s Way, Eric Maisel teaches you how to make rich personal meaning despite the absence of beneficent gods and the indifference of the universe to human concerns. Exploding the myth that there is any meaning to find or to seek, Dr. Maisel explains why the paradigm shift from seeking meaning to making meaning is this century’s most pressing intellectual goal.
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Media coverage of and commentary on Gregory Paul’s research

Religious affiliation within each state that h...

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MEDIA COVERAGE OF AND COMMENTARY ON GSP RESEARCH

ANALYSIS –

Gregory Paul on Religion
Domain-of-Darwin at Deviant Art blog 12/29/09

Are We Better Off Without Religion?
Susan Blackmore The Guardian 12/8/09

Who Needs God When We’ve Got Mammon?
David Villano Miller-McCune 11/24/09
[alternet.org article Is Religion Hurting America?]

Why Evolution is True
Jerry Coyne (University of Chicago) at Atheist Alliance International conference 10/3/09

[Minutes 41:00-48:00 & 54:00-57:00 are a practical demonstation of how GSP's research is beginning
to radically transform the evolution versus creation debate from the long static discussion about
science and education to the new, dynamic issue of scientifically and socioeconomically reforming the
U.S. to produce a better nation.)

Greg Paul Elaborates On Healthcare and Religion
Dorene Braun  Examiner 10/19/09

What Healthcare Reform Really Means For the U.S.
Dorene Braun  Examiner 9/23/09

Does Prosperity Entail the End of God?
Ronald Bailey  Reason 9/18/09

Science, Religion Debated As Evangelical Takes Top NIH Post
Dan Vergano  USA Today 9/11/09

Is Religiosity Beneficial in Affluent First World Nations? (press release)
Evolutionary Psychology Journal 8/31/09

Religion in the United States and Other Nations
Art Hobson NWA Times 8/29/09

(Un)wired for God
Sharon Begley Newsweek 8/13/09 print 8/24-31/09: 30 09

An Atheist Asks, 'Does Religion Cause Immorality?'
Hugh Kramer Examiner 8/7/09

America, Land of the Free Thinkers
Tom Flynn Washington Post - On Faith 3/11/09

Disbelief About Belief
Tom Flynn Washington Post - On Faith 2/8/09

Evolution: Unfinished Business
The Economist 2/5/09

Baylor Religion Survey Under Dispute
Sommer Ingram The Lariat 2/4/09

Humanist Group Claims Baylor Religion Survey Flawed
Katherine Phan Christian Post 2/4/09

Council for Secular Humanism Rips Baylor Survey on U.S. and Religion
Sam Hodges  Dallas Morning News 2/3/09

Faith Hurts
PZ Meyers Pharyngula 11/22/08

Does Religion Make You Nice? Does Atheism Make You Mean?
Paul Bloom Slate 11/7/08

What Good is God?
Helen Phillips New Scientist 9/1/07

God and Good Behavior
Gwynne Dyer The Jerusalem Post 3/21/07

[A revealing comment was posted at bumpersticker.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/does-religion-do-more-
harm-than-good]

Bowling for God
Michael Shermer Scientific American 12/06

Religious Belief and Societal Health: New Study Reveals That Religion Leads to a Healthier Society
Matthew Provonska Skeptic Magazine 12(3)/06

[Featured on-line article]

To the Church, He’s Public Enemy No. 1: Researcher of Religion’s Link to Social Ills Comes Under Withering Attack
Alex Johnson MSNBC Online 12/15/05

[Also on-air MSNBC appearance by Johnson on 12/16]

Does Religion Increase Social Dysfunction?
J Manny Daily Kos 11/17/05

Religion Does Great Harm to Society: A Report Written by Scientist Gregory Paul Has Provoked a Lot of Heated Debate in the U.S.
Amalia Iaanaduioc Ta Nea (Largest Greek daily)  10/22/05

Religion Harms U.S.: Gregory Paul Sees Relationship Between Religion and Societal Dysfunction
Tom-Jan Meeus NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands) 10/12/05

Religion + Higher Abortion Rate? U.S. Researcher Sees a Link
Leslie Scrivener  The Toronto Star 10/9/05

More Religion Equals More Problems, Study Says
Kay Campbell The Huntsville Times 10/7/05


[Picked up by Associated Press.]

The Dark Side of Religion Shown by Creighton University Study
AOL News 10/4/05

Study Says Belief in God May Contribute To Society’s Dysfunctions
Julia Limb The World Today Australia  9/28/05

[Or hear the audio report including GSP commentary in MP3, Windows Media, Real Audio.]

Societies Worse Off ‘When They Have God On Their Side


Ruth Gledhill The London Times 9/27/05

[Widely reprinted in The Australian, World Wide Religion News, etc. Most e-mailed article on the London
Times
website, initiated international coverage of the JR&S paper.]

OP-EDS –

Why is Land of the Faithful Pockmarked with Varied Ills
Martin Dyckman St. Petersburg Times 10/30/05

Religion: Harmful for Society?
Zenit News Service/Catholic Online 10/15-16/05

So That’s the Reason
Theodore Dalrymple The Wall Street Journal 10/14/05

Religion May Be Dangerous To Our Health
Lee Salisbury Dissident Voice 10/11/05

My Heroes Are Driven By God, But I’m Glad My Society Isn’t
George Monbiot The Guardian 10/11/05
Also the AlterNet

Gallup Organization Refutes Story Saying “Societies Worse Off ‘When They Have God on Their Side’ “
David Virtue VirtueOnline 10/10/05

[Not actually from the Gallup organization, is from George Gallup Jr., who after his letter to the London
Times
was rejected, posted it on this right wing blog. Gallup Jr. has stated that "When I ask a question
on these subjects, what I'm always trying to find out is: 'Are we doing the will of God?," "The world
knows a lot about Jesus, but do they know him? It is for the churches to seize this moment, to take the
vague spirituality of the day and turn it into faith that is solid and transformative," and "We know so little
about mystical experiences, yet the religious dynamic is perhaps the most powerful of all in American
culture. This is a way to unite our country on a deep level and produce a more peaceful
world." (www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/139/31.0.html)]

Correlation of Christian Ethics, Social Ills Knocks Advocates From Knees To Backside
Emily Maguire Sydney Morning Herald 10/4/05

The Dark Side of Faith: It’s Official: Too Much Faith May Be a Dangerous Thing
Rosa Brooks  The Los Angeles Times 10/1/05

[Most e-mailed article on the Los Angeles Times website, led to appearance on MSNBC by Brooks
10/6/05.]

INTERVIEWS/LECTURES

Universal Healthcare Promotes Freethought

Freethought Radio & Podcast Interview  9/19/09

The Big Religion Questions Solved!
Equal Time For Free Thought Interview on wbai.org 1/18/09

The Big Religion Questions Solved!
Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia videotaped lecture (82 mins) 12/2/08

Evolution vs. Creationism Debate
Marc Steiner Show, WJHU/NPR (Baltimore), Aug. 2000, rebroadcast Dec. 2000.


MISCELLANEOUS


Hot Topic (of the week): Moral Depravity
Real Time with Bill Maher website 10/6-13/05

NON-RELIGION WORK



In other areas of research I have published in Nature, BioScience, Scientific American, The Anatomical Record, Modern Geology, Historical Biology and Cretaceous Research as well as a number of academic books. I have authored or edited books through Johns Hopkins University Press, Scientific American and Princeton University Press. Peer review services have been provided to editors, technical journals and the National Science Foundation government grant system.

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The effects of early religious training

Praying for... Santa?
Image by BenSpark via Flickr

The effects of early religious training: Implications for…

Authors:
Hanna, Fred J.
Myer, Rick A.
Source:
Counseling & Values; Oct94, Vol. 39 Issue 1, p32, 10p
Document Type:
Article
Subject Terms:
*CHILDREN
RELIGION
RELIGIOUS life
Abstract:
Examines the impact of teaching children religion at an early age. Comparison of the concept of god taught to children to the God of theology and philosophy; Analysis of the God of childhood; Conceptualization of God by children.
Full Text Word Count:
4208
ISSN:
01607960
Accession Number:
9705070609
Persistent link to this record (Permalink):
Cut and Paste:
<A href=”http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org.public.phoenixpubliclibrary.org:2048/webcheck.jsp?atz=http://search.ebscohost.com.public.phoenixpubliclibrary.org:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=9705070609&site=ehost-live&scope=site”>The effects of early religious training: Implications for…</A>
Database:

Section: PRACTICE

THE EFFECTS OF EARLY RELIGIOUS

TRAINING: IMPLICATIONS FOR

COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT

The simplistic conception of god commonly taught to children is distinguished from the God of theology and philosophy. There is evidence that children feel a considerable amount of anxiety in connection with their deity. A thorough analysis of the god of childhood reveals that many children believe in and internalize an authoritative being who is both good and evil, kind and abusive. Modeling of this being can continue into adulthood and may have a continuing effect on cognition and behavior. Implications for counseling and development are discussed.

Religious development across the life span is an important issue in counseling (Worthington, 1989) and one’s conception of God is an important aspect of that development. When this development becomes stalled at the childhood level, however, it may have negative effects that continue into adulthood. Caught between trying to explain the goodness of God and the concept of judgment, teachers use simplistic representations rather than theological works to teach children about God. The nature of childhood cognition (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969) further limits understanding to these simplistic interpretations (Nye & Carlson, 1984; O’Neil & Donovan, 1970).

“The religion of childhood is of a very special order” (Allport, 1950, p. 31) both cognitively and developmentally. Nelsen and Kroliczak (1984) found that “children continue to associate right and wrong behavior with God” (p. 267). Difficulties with respect to authority, contradictory behaviors, and control issues may arise for adults dependent on a simplistic conception of God. An investigation of this issue might explain much in the way of the cognition and behavior of adults who have not passed through more sophisficated stages of development (see Loevinger, 1976, 1985).

This article is divided into three sections: (a) analysis of the child’s conception of God, (b) cognitive, emotional, and developmental effects, and (c) implications for counseling. For the sake of clarity, God will be referred to in the masculine because that is how it has been commonly presented. Also, because the conception of God presented is not that of classical theology or the philosophy of religion, it will be referred to in small letters to differentiate this article from such treatises. We will use a time-honored method of philosophical analysis called reductio ad absurdurn (Angeles, 1981) to follow the logical progression of applying a simplistic concept of God to an adult framework of understanding. In using this method, we encourage a close examination of the traditional teaching methods used when instructing children about the concept of God. Our goal is to promote healthy and mature religious development. <more on line>

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/detail?accno=EJ497261

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Recommended Reading

Jeff Sharlet
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They both feed on emotional appeals and they both employ propaganda that distorts history,  and plays up to the native fears and prejudice of the uneducated. They both distort reality with deliberate lies. Christian nationalism in the USA (and possibly in Australia and Canada) has morphed into Christian fascism in recent decades. Christian fascists are implementing a bold plan using childhood indoctrination to raise a fifth column in the USA that will seize power during a crisis. In light of the recent near collapse of the financial markets and the huge losses families have suffered, the willingness to blame fascists is hard to resist. Especially since the unceasing drum beat from the extremists on the right has been all about destroying the government. America seethes with anger and hatred in all quarters.

By Jeff Sharlet

“We keep trying to explain away American fundamentalism. Those of us not engaged personally or emotionally in the biggest political and cultural movement of our times—those on the sidelines of history—keep trying to come up with theories with which to discredit the evident allure of this punishing yet oddly comforting idea of a deity, this strange god. His invisible hand is everywhere, say His citizen-theologians, caressing and fixing every outcome: Little League games, job searches, test scores, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, the success or failure of terrorist attacks (also known as “signs”), victory or defeat in battle, at the ballot box, in bed. Those unable to feel His soothing touch at moments such as these snort at the notion of a god with the patience or the prurience to monitor every tick and twitch of desire, a supreme being able to make a lion and a lamb cuddle but unable to abide two men kissing. A divine love that speaks through hurricanes. Who would worship such a god? His followers must be dupes, or saps, or fools, their faith illiterate, insane, or misinformed, their strength fleeting, hollow, an aberration. A burp in American history. An unpleasant odor that will pass.

Harpers, Through a Glass Darkly How the Christian Right is Reimagining American History

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/12/0081322

Other books:

American Fascists The Christian Right and The War on America, by Chris Hedges

Kingdom Coming by Michelle Goldberg

American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion,  Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury by Kevin Philips

Roads to Dominion, Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States, by Sara Diamond

The Fundamentals of Extremism, The Christian Right in America, Ed. Kimberly Blaker

My Amazon Wish List:

Reports on the web include:

www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm#_edn14

www.theocracywatch.org/

www.publiceye.org/magazine/v19n3/clarkson_dominionism.html

www.theocracywatch.org/chris_hedges_nov24_04.htm

www.talk2action.org/story/2008/1/5/155457/0298

www.harpers.org/archive/2006/12/0081322

http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v19n3/clarkson_dominionism.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7422542 Is America Too Damn Religious, NPR

Blogs:

www.endhereditaryreligion.com

Progressive Blogs

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Encouraging news on child abuse front

I posted this in the Amazon, Spanking your children should be illegal forum
+++++++++++

We interrupt this forum for some breaking news!

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=9730224

A massive new federal study documents an unprecedented and dramatic decrease in incidents of serious child abuse, especially sexual abuse. Experts hailed the findings as proof that crackdowns and public awareness campaigns had made headway.

An estimated 553,000 children suffered physical, sexual or emotional abuse in 2005-06, down 26 percent from the estimated 743,200 abuse victims in 1993, the study found.

“It’s the first time since we started collecting data about these things that we’ve seen substantial declines over a long period, and that’s tremendously encouraging,” said professor David Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire, a leading researcher in the field of child abuse.

“It does suggest that the mobilization around this issue is helping and it’s a problem that is amenable to solutions,” he said.

But the study points out that 500,000 children were still abused. That is not acceptable, especially in view of the fact that the abused often turn around and abuse others. We must get ahead of the problem and stop sweeping up after the harm has already occurred. Nonetheless, we see that preventive measures do help and that should give us hope we are moving in the right direction.

What would really help is to develop a national policy that set forth requirements for competent parenting and widespread parental training classes. As a final measure licensing of prospective parents could be the next step. Abolishing all forms of physical punishment and verbal abuse must be instituted. There is never any reason to hit a child or threaten them with violence.

The libertarian and conservative religious ideology that family privacy trumps any efforts by the state to intervene in family matters until damage has occured has to go. Parents are not free to do as they please to their children.

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Scientific literature on religion and child abuse

Help us build a reference list of scientific studies linking religion and child abuse. Is there such a thing as religious inspired child abuse? Add the citations below in the comments section, please.

Bottoms, B. L., Shaver, P. R., Goodman, G. S., & Qin, J. (1995). In the name of God:
A profile of religion-related child abuse. Journal of Social Issues, 51 (2), 85-111.

Bottoms, B. L., Shaver, P. R., & Goodman, G. S. (1996). An analysis of ritualistic
and religion-related child abuse allegations. Law and Human Behavior, 20 (1), 1-34.

Capps, D. (1992). Religion and child abuse: Perfect together. Journal for the
Scientific Study of Religion, 31 (1), 1-14. [ This paper is available on line and worth study, http://bit.ly/8k8Kwf
Abstract
Religious beliefs can foster, encourage, and justify child abuse, yet religious motivations for child abuse and neglect have been virtually ignored in social science research. In this paper, we compare victims' retrospective reports of religion-related child physical abuse to other reported cases of child physical abuse. We describe in statistical detail the nature and circumstances of the abuse, characteristics of victims and perpetrators, and the spiritual and psychological impact of the abuse. Results indicate that although the basic characteristics of religion-related physical abuse are similar to non-
religion-related physical abuse, religion-related abuse has significantly more negative implications for its victims' long-term psychological well-being

Capps. D. (1995). The child’s song: The religious abuse of children. Louisville, KY:
Westminster John Knox Press.
Religion and child abu3se1

Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (1997). How the experience of early
physical abuse leads children to become chronically aggressive. In Developmental
perspectives on trauma: Theory, research, and intervention (Vol. 8, pp. 263-288).
Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.

Doxey, C., Jensen, L., & Jensen, J. (1997). The influence of religion on victims of
childhood sexual abuse. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 7, 179-186.

Ellison, C. G., & Sherkat, D. E. (1993). Conservative Protestantism and support for
corporal punishment. American Sociological Review, 58 (1), 131-145.

Ellison, C. G., Bartkowski, J. P., & Segal, M. L. (1996a). Do conservative Protestant
parents spank more often? Further evidence from the national survey of families and
households. Social Science Quarterly, 77, 663-673.

Ellison, C. G., Bartkowski, J. P., & Segal, M. L. (1996b). Conservative Protestantism
and the parental use of corporal punishment. Social Forces, 74 (3), 1003-1028.

Flynn, C. P. (1996). Normative support for corporal punishment: Attitudes,
Religion and child abu3se2
correlates, and implications. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 1 (1), 47-55.

Correlates of multiple forms of victimization in religion-related child abuse cases. Journal of
Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma, 2, 273-295. [Reprinted in B. B. R. Rossman & M. S.

Gorsuch, R. L. (1988). Psychology of religion. Annual Review of Psychology, 39,
202-221.

Greven, P. (1991). Spare the child: The religious roots of punishment and the
psychological impact of physical abuse. New York: Knopf.

Hunsberger, B. (1989). A short version of the Christian orthodoxy scale. Journal for
the Scientific Study of Religion, 28, 360-365.

Jackson, S., Law, L., Thompson, R.A., Christiansen, E. H., Colman, R. A., & Wyatt,
J. (1999). Predicting abuse-prone parental attitudes and discipline practices in a
nationally representative sample. Child Abuse & Neglect, 23 (1), 15-29.

Johnson, B. W., & Eastburg, M.C. (1992). God, parent and self concepts in abused
and nonabused children. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 11 (3), 235-243.

Kane, D., Cheston, S. E., & Greer, J. (1993). Perceptions of God by survivors of
childhood sexual abuse: An exploratory study in an underresearched area. Journal of
Religion and child abu3se3

Psychology and Theology, 21 (3), 228-237.

Lawson, R., Drebing, C., Berg, G., Vincellette A., & Penk, W. (1998). The long term
impact of child abuse on religious behavior and spirituality in men. Child Abuse
& Neglect, 22 (5), 369-380.

Lynch, M., & Cicchetti, D. (1998). An ecological-transactional analysis of children
and contexts: The longitudinal interplay among child maltreatment, community violence, and
Religion and child abu3se4
children’s symptomatology. Development and Psychopathology, 10 (2), 235-257.

Maurer, A. (1982). Religious values and child abuse. Child & Youth Services, 4, 57-
63.

Malcarne, V. L., & Burchard, J. D. (1992). Investigations of child abuse/neglect
allegations in religious cults: A case study in Vermont. Behavioral Sciences & the Law,
10(1), 75-88.

Maxfield, M. G., & Widom, C. S. (1996). The cycle of violence: Revisited six years
later. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 150, 390-395.
.
Nelsen, H. M., & Kroliczak, A. (1984). Parental use of the threat “God will punish”:

Replication and extension. Journal for Scientific Study of Religion, 23 (3), 267-277.

Neufeld, K. (1979). Child-rearing, religion, abusive parents. Religious Education, 74
(3), 235-243.

Pagelow, M. D., & Johnson, P. (1998). Abuse in the American family: The role of
religion. In A. L. Horton & J. A. Williamson (Eds.), Abuse and religion: When praying isn't
enough. (pp. 1-12).

Pargament, K. I. (1997). The psychology of religious coping. New York: Guilford.
Pelcovitz, D., Kaplan, S., Goldenberg, B., & Mandel, F. (1994). Posttraumatic stress
disorder in physically abused adolescents. Journal of American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, 33 (3), 305-312.

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The Rise of Idiot America

The following excerpt is lifted from the first chapter of the book, “Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free”, by Charles Pierce.

The rise of Idiot America, though, is essentially a war on expertise. It’s not so much antimodernism or the distrust of the intellectual elites that Richard Hofstadter teased out of the national DNA, although both of those things are part of it. The rise of Idiot America today reflects—for profit, mainly, but also, and more cynically, for political advantage and in the pursuit of power—the breakdown of the consensus that the pursuit of knowledge is a good. It also represents the ascendancy of the notion that the people we should trust the least are the people who know best what they’re talking about. In the new media age, everybody is a historian, or a scientist, or a preacher, or a sage. And if everyone is an expert, then nobody is, and the worst thing you can be in a society where everybody is an expert is, well, an actual expert.

This is how Idiot America engages itself. It decides, en masse, with a million keystrokes and clicks of the remote control, that because there are two sides to every question, they both must be right, or at least not wrong. And the words of an obscure biologist carry no more weight on the subject of biology than do the thunderations of some turkeyneck preacher out of the Church of Christ’s Own Parking Structure in DeLand, Florida. Less weight, in fact, because our scientist is an “expert” and, therefore, an “elitist.” Nobody buys his books. Nobody puts him on cable. He’s brilliant, surely, but no different from all the rest of us, poor fool.

How does it work? This is how it works. On August 21, 2005, a newspaper account of the intelligent design movement contained this remarkable sentence:

“They have mounted a politically savvy challenge to evolution as the bedrock of modern biology, propelling a fringe academic movement onto the front pages and putting Darwin’s defenders firmly on the defensive.”

“A politically savvy challenge to evolution” makes as much sense as conducting a Gallup poll on gravity or running someone for president on the Alchemy party ticket. It doesn’t matter what percentage of people believe that they ought to be able to flap their arms and fly: none of them can. It doesn’t matter how many votes your candidate got: he’s not going to be able to turn lead into gold. The sentence is so arrantly foolish that the only
real news in it is where it appeared.

On the front page.

Of the New York Times.

Read chapter one at the following Amazon URL.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/randoEMS/Idiot_American_Introduction.pdf

The current town hall meeting spectacles are a direct result of the rise of idiot America, as well as the phenomenon of Sarah Palin, and worst of all eight years of George Bush.

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