Fellowship focus 6 - April 1999
To smack or not to smack; That is the question
When the Government announced recently that it is going to change the law on how parents may discipline their children, I was reminded of some sobering words from Don Carson :
"We must hold the state and other social institutions accountable... Once passed, laws achieve such awesome power in the hands of many bureaucrats that questions of justice, fairness, even of common sense, get squeezed to the periphery." (The Gagging of God , p426)
While the Government has denied that it plans to ban 'smacking', with a coalition of over 140 organisations, including the NSPCC, Barnardo's and Save the Children campaigning for legislation against all physical discipline of children, we cannot afford to be complacent. Also, the Department of Health has refused to deny press reports that Ministers will propose a ban on any smacking with an object such as a slipper or a wooden spoon. Since the Bible speaks of "the rod of correction", many Christian parents would find themselves faced with a choice of obedience to God or to the state, if this were to be the outcome.
The implications of any change in the law which would turn loving parents into criminals overnight are very disturbing. It would certainly not be in the interests of children to be taken into care or to see their parents hauled through the Courts for loving and appropriate - not to mention biblical - discipline. The emotional pain of such an unwarranted intrusion into a well-functioning home would by far outweigh the momentary pain of a moderate physical sanction.
Earlier in the year, Ministers in the Department for Education and Employment stated that:
"It is the personal responsibility of parents to decide for themselves what disciplinary arrangements are appropriate for their child. It would not be appropriate for the State to impose its own view. "
Families for Discipline, in co-operation with a growing number of other concerned groups and individuals, is pressing the Government to honour this commitment and respect the deeply-held convictions of loving parents in this area.
For further information, contact Families for Discipline, 173 Frinton Road, Kirby Cross, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex CO13 0PD.
Norman Wells.