Pastor Sentenced To 2 Years In Prison For Teaching That Parents Should Spank Their Children

The American Dream ^ | May 25, 2012 | The American Dream

[daniel1212]

Pastor Sentenced To 2 Years In Prison For Teaching That Parents Should Spank Their Children

Do you believe that parents should be able to spank their children?  Do you ever express that opinion to others?  If so, then you could be sent to prison.  Sadly, that is exactly what happened to one pastor up in Wisconsin recently.  A minister named Philip Caminiti was sentenced to 2 years in prison for simply teaching that parents should spank their children when they misbehave.  Please note that Caminiti was not accused of spanking anyone or of physically hurting anyone.  He was put in prison simply for his speech.  He was put in prison simply for what he was teaching others to do.  Whether you agree with spanking or not, this should be incredibly sobering for all of us.  Increasingly, speech is being penalized in the United States.  Much of the time, the focus of the attacks by the forces of political correctness is on religious speech.  If this trend continues, many of you that are reading this article might be put in jail for the things that you say in the coming years.

***Please Note: I am not defending anything that Phil Caminiti does or teaches.  In fact, a lot of things that he teaches are dead wrong.  What I am alarmed about is that a minister was put into prison solely for things that he said.  If they will do that to him, how soon will it be before they start putting other ministers in prison?***

When many of us were growing up, once in a while our parents would take out a belt or a wooden paddle and give us a paddling on the behind when we did something wrong.

Was there anything wrong with that?

Of course not.

Yes, there is real child abuse that goes on out there, but in the vast majority of instances spanking does not do any lasting physical harm.  Rather, it benefits the child because it helps them learn what is right and what is wrong.

I know that when I got a licking on the behind as a child that helped me to remember not to do the same thing again.

But Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi was absolutely horrified that some parents would actually use a wooden spoon to spank their little children when they misbehaved.

Perhaps that judge should actually try to spank someone with a wooden spoon some time.  You simply cannot do much damage with a wooden spoon.

Instead of going after the parents who were doing the spanking, prosecutors chose to go after the pastor instead.  They claimed that Caminiti was "the spoke in the wheel of this conspiracy".

Even after Caminiti leaves prison, he will be forbidden from having any contact with his old church....

Caminiti will be on extended supervision for six years after his release from prison. Despite objections on constitutional grounds by Caminiti's lawyers, Sumi ordered that he not have any contact with the Aleitheia Bible Church and have no leadership role in any church.

What in the world is happening to this country?

Criminal predators are literally eating the faces off of people, and yet authorities want to go after pastors that are encouraging their congregations to follow the teachings of the Bible?

Have we stepped into a really bizarre episode of The Twilight Zone?

Sadly, this is not the only example of how our free speech is under attack these days.

Up in New York, a new bill was recently introduced that would outlaw all "mean-spirited and baseless political attacks".

I think that would cover a whole lot of people that leave comments on my blog.

The following is how a recent article by Kurt Nimmo described what this new law would require....

New York state government is attempting to pass the measure in both the Senate and the Assembly. The legislation has been referred to the Codes Committee in the Senate, and the Government Operations Committee in the Assembly.

Both proposals are identical and would effect messages posted on message boards, blogs, social networks, and “any other discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages.” The law would require websites to post email addresses for “removal requests, clearly visible in any sections where comments are posted.” Those demanding the removal of content they find objectionable, however, would have their anonymity protected.

“Had the internet been around in the late 1700s, perhaps the anonymously written Federalist Papers would have to be taken down unless Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay revealed themselves,” notes David Kravets, writing for Wired.

Will we soon see laws such as this nationwide?

Will all blogs and websites soon be at the mercy of the politically correct police?

Up in Buffalo, New York it is apparently now against the law to hand out Christian tracts on a public sidewalk.  At least that is what one man was told recently when he attempted to hand out tracts outside of an Italian heritage festival.  The following is from a recent WorldNetDaily article....

While handing out tracts to willing recipients on a public street during a public festival, Owen was approached by a police officer who declined to identify himself but told him that the Buffalo Police Department is “the law” and he should stop handing out tracts.

According to the lawsuit: “Subsequently, another police officer, Officer Slomka, arrived on the scene. She quickly informed Owen that they could not hand out tracts in the festival and explained that the prohibition was ‘by our orders.’ Owen asked for her name, and she replied: ‘Slomka, write it down.’ Owen advised that he believed the tracts to be free speech; nonplussed, Officer Slomka reiterated that they couldn’t hand out tracts there and had to go outside of the festival area to continue with their expressive activity.”

Then, “Owen inquired as to whether they would be arrested if they continued to hand out tracts in the festival area, to which, Officer Slomka replied: ‘Yes.’”

That almost makes me angry enough to take a trip over to Buffalo and hand out tracts right outside the police station.

Even if you do not ever distribute literature, you should be alarmed at how our freedom of speech is being eroded.

The truth is that whenever anyone has their freedom of speech attacked it is an attack on all of us.

If we are not careful, we are going to end up just like Canada.

At one high school up in Canada recently, a student was suspended from school for a week for wearing a shirt with the following message....

"Life is wasted without Jesus"

The student was told that the shirt was "hate talk" and that he would be suspended for the rest of the year if he tried to wear it to school again.

They are coming for our free speech ladies and gentlemen.

They are not going to be satisfied until they have either shut all of us up or put all of us in prison.

It is imperative that we all stand up for free speech while we still can.  Once our freedom of speech is gone, the loss of the rest of our freedoms will only be a matter of time.

[sickoflibs]

Bad example,

This horrific story reframed with a totally mislreading title just makes them look silly and hurt’s their cause. It makes them look like they agree with torturing babies.

[txrefugee]

Yet public schools give homosexuals and their agenda freedom to promote their lifestyle, or death-style, to children.

America is doomed by evil such as this.

[MrB]

They’re using the fringe case of spanking infants to punish parents who use corporal punishment on kids of appropriate age.

[sonofagun]

sickoflibs - you have the patience of Job.

[daniel1212]

As i expressed, the church is not without fault in its teaching, but the judge’s ruling extends beyond using wooden spoons (it also calls them dowels) to spank infants, but extends to such child discipline at higher ages. I do not think wooden spoons would have been much of a deterrent for me, but i honestly cannot remember anything before about 6.

While infants do not know how to exercise moral judgment, and evangelicals like Dobson do not sanction spanking them, yet they can learn at an early age how to “train” their parents to come by crying every time they want something, which is not to be encouraged (not by spanking, but not always responding) for less than real needs, while rewards for good behavior can be progressively learned quite early.

[daniel1212]

“I would never use a wooden spoon. If you think it wouldn’t hurt as much go ahead, whack yourself on the thigh with one and the hit your other thigh with your hand.”

Seriously, that is hardly much to me (at 5.5, 130lbs), and instead i used an adjustable wrench which still is not much. And my dad spanked hard, and i grew up doing things like chopping down big trees with an axe, and playing tackle football on grass fields with much larger guys.

Thank God i could, and with no ill effects, but what is harmful is a lack of affirmation, which my parents suffered from. For as i said (transposed), the hand that spanks must also hug.

[Kaslin]

There is a huge difference between spanking a child and beating a child, but the left is to stupid to see it. No wonder kids become criminals

[Gilbo_3]

This horrific story reframed with a totally mislreading title just makes them look silly and hurt’s their cause. It makes them look like they agree with torturing babies.

SOL has a kncack for reading the tea leaves of public/ploitical reactions to the details of these kinds of stories...

sadly, although the underlying free speech/religion issues will be trampled, the Jim Jones angle will be the highlight that everyone remembers...

but rev wright is not to be questioned by 'our' side...

[daniel1212]

That is what i see.

[daniel1212]

Oh, but look how terrified the children seem of their dad! (Good picture -may God bless them).

[Ohioan]

The parallels between those whom we mistakenly call "Liberals," and the Bolsheviks & Nazis of the 20th Century, grow ever clearer.

All three groups reflected what we have identified as a Compulsion For Uniformity. Dare we even ask a just God to forgive us, if we fail to get these crackpot fanatics out of positions to do mischief!

William Flax

[cuban leaf]

—There is no state in the USA where spanking is illegal,—

I understand. But we all know that child abuse is illegal in all states.

So, the question in this case is when did a court think it crossed the line between “spanking” and “Child abuse”.

I was not there so I don’t know. The only reason for my original post is that I have been baited too many times with articles that sound like an outrage only to find out, when I have all the facts, that they actually make sense.

I don’t know which this is - yet - but it is clearly not a simple case of “guy spanks kid and goes to jail”.

[yldstrk]

Subject was encouraging discipline of 2 month olds, I am on the judge’s side. Sorry. Y’all think it’s so cool to whale on people littler than you. Weird.

[MrB]

The “interview” before any spanking:

Did you know you were not supposed to do X?
yes
Did you do X?
yes
Did you know you’d get spanked for breaking the rule?
yes

OK, that’s why you’re being spanked.

[Carry_Okie]

I am stunned that the judge thinks this ruling will stand.

[metmom]

I would never use a wooden spoon. If you think it wouldn’t hurt as much go ahead, whack yourself on the thigh with one and the hit your other thigh with your hand. Let us know.

My mother used the wooden spoon and my father his hand and my mother's spankings did not hurt as much as my father's. The wooden spoon would break long before it hit with the amount of force that my father could administer with his hand.

Besides, once we learned, all she'd have to do is rattle the wooden spoons in the drawer and we'd all shape up really quick.

[MrB]

Social services exists in order to protect children from abuse and neglect.

As with all human institutions though, they get infested with worldly people who are under the influence of the prince of this world, and their purpose gets twisted to serve him instead of serve good.

Too often, “abuse and neglect” get defined to include “raising kids in a Christian household”.

[Westbrook]

Please, please, PLEASE listen to the sermons on this web site.

http://www.ephrataministries.org/listen.a5w

The sermons are by Denny Kenaston, who teaches that Obedience comes from Blessing, and that you can spank your child in love. There is a big difference between a spanking and a beating.

There is a lot more in this series of sermons: husband and wife, modesty, and so much more that has been lost in this prurient, vulgar salacious culture.

I promise that you and your family will be blessed immensely if you listen to these sermons and put into practice the loving messages this precious brother conveys.

[9YearLurker]

To me, a “spanking” is done with an open hand. To whip a child with a wooden dowel is a “beating”.

[reagan_fanatic]

If they were here right now, my Grandparents would look at this nation in abject horror at what it has become.