Culture/Faith

Faith Resources

Some parents believe that the Bible requires them to physically punish their children. However, many
Christian leaders, clergy and theologians do not interpret the Scriptures this way. The articles below
explore this issue.

Augustine, Luther and Solomon: Providing Pastoral Guidance to Parents On the Corporal Punishment of Children

From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professionals Working with Parents Using Scripture to Justify Corporal Punishment

Working With Molly: A Culturally Sensitive Approach to Parents Using Corporal Punishment Because of Their Religious Beliefs

Books on Religion and Spanking

We often hear sayings that we think come from the Bible, such as “cleanliness is next to godliness.”Actually, that phrase is from a sermon given by John Wesley in 1778. Many people think that “spare the rod, spoil the child” is in the Bible. In fact, it’s from a poem written by Samuel Butler in the 17th century. This book explores the true origins of many popular sayings that we think come from the Bible, but actually have very different sources.

There are Old Testament passages that have been interpreted as calling for physical punishment of children, as well as slaves and others. Dr. William Webb, a theologian, examines these passages indepth to put them into historical context and help us understand how they apply today.

Spiritual care in Children’s Advocacy Centers: results of a survey of CAC directors

Many offenders against children use religion to facilitate abuse, which causes children spiritual harm. Moreover, child victims may generally suffer spiritual harm because abuse shakes their belief in a just and loving God. The spiritual harm is often exacerbated if the abuser is clergy and/or a congregation rallies around the abuser. Religion and spirituality can also be important resources for children’s recovery. This research assesses spiritual harm and healing encountered in Children’s Advocacy Centers (CAC), which coordinate the investigative and service response in thousands of child abuse cases. The project surveyed all 964 U.S. Children’s Advocacy Centers directors and 172 responded.

The results indicate that, particularly in the Southern region, many CACs are seeing spiritual harm in their practice, and some are also witnessing spirituality used to help children heal. The most common responses to children raising a spiritual question were to recommend the child discuss it with their therapist and to refer the child to a local faith community, but the survey results suggest that most members of the multidisciplinary team, including therapists, lack training on spiritual care and most CACs have limited relationships with local faith communities. Over one-third of CAC directors either strongly or somewhat favored a spiritual care program or have implemented one, but a larger percentage were uncommitted. However, most respondents reported being interested in learning more and receiving resources and guidance, suggesting that the path is open for improvement in providing spiritual care to child victims in CACs.