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Corporal punishment

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Times, they are a-changing. The wiki article shows when various countries abolished it completely. What is your religion's take on it? What about your country? How about you personally?

Corporal punishment - Wikipedia
It's ineffective. Violence begets violence. Inflicting physical pain on someone you believe has committed a wrong, is itself an act of violence. It perpetuates it. It teaches it to the victim of it and to the giver of it.

If I were to relate this to the Christian religion, Jesus taught against it. He rejected the old form of an "eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" form or retributive justice. He instead taught the way of nonviolence. "Turn the other cheek. Do good to those who harm you." Other NT writers echoed that themselves, "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing".

Violence begets violence. Love begets love. If you render love to those who have done wrong, you break the cycle and teach a better way.

Plus, from a modernist perspective, studies have shown that corporal punishment does no good in reforming behaviors. At best it simply represses the violence, not changes the source of violence within them. It doesn't get to the root of anything.
 

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
It's ineffective. Violence begets violence. Inflicting physical pain on someone you believe has committed a wrong, is itself an act of violence. It perpetuates it. It teaches it to the victim of it and to the giver of it.

If I were to relate this to the Christian religion, Jesus taught against it. He rejected the old form of an "eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" form or retributive justice. He instead taught the way of nonviolence. "Turn the other cheek. Do good to those who harm you." Other NT writers echoed that themselves, "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing".

Violence begets violence. Love begets love. If you render love to those who have done wrong, you break the cycle and teach a better way.

Plus, from a modernist perspective, studies have shown that corporal punishment does no good in reforming behaviors. At best it simply represses the violence, not changes the source of violence within them. It doesn't get to the root of anything.

Yeah, for some versions of violence. But not all IMHO.
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
Times, they are a-changing. The wiki article shows when various countries abolished it completely. What is your religion's take on it? What about your country? How about you personally?

Corporal punishment - Wikipedia

When I was younger, raising kids it happened either when I was angry or my wife was angry and demanded it.
I never really liked it when I was of rational mind. Eventually decided there was no real benefit in it for the kids.
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
No, some violence is not bad and some love is not good. It is to me a bit more complex than your model.
What violence is good? Even killing someone in self-defense, is not "good". It's still bad, even if it was unfortunately necessary.

But we are talking about corporal punishment, as a form of corrective measures, such as beating someone because they didn't listen to you, or whipping them because they broke the rules, and so forth. All of that is rendering violence for violence, which itself is violence perpetuating violence. It follows violence as a way of life. That's what it teaches. Violence is okay, if you're somehow "in the right".

As far as love not always being good, I would love to hear your thoughts on that. I can't think of any single instance where love cause harm of any kind. Unless, you are mistaking the meaning of the word love as something else, such as being a non-confrontational pushover when you should stand up for truth. But that's not love though. That's fear. But I'm certainly interested to hear if you have something else in mind?
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
Times, they are a-changing. The wiki article shows when various countries abolished it completely. What is your religion's take on it? What about your country? How about you personally?
I am uncertain, and the question is complicated by the number of different states in my country and our various laws and precedents. A killer in one state may get a different punishment than a killer in another state.

The idea that the death penalty is evil while imprisonment is good -- that idea is given too much credit. Prison is an evil, too. Prison seems like a terrible experience. It is our way of making people afraid to break laws, and it is our way of getting vengeance and doing a little evil ourselves. Some believe we have to have justice or society breaks down. I think they are right, since among humans there are many personality problems and insanities.

In the past it was believed that condemning someone to death might send them to hell. People usually don't believe that, now. Most believe it ends them; so I think death penalty should seem less cruel than it did.

An innocent person can be convicted. If convicted they may still think "At least I do not deserve to be so ill treated," however life imprisonment may also turn them bitter and make them worse. Death could be better. It could be worse.
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
Times, they are a-changing. The wiki article shows when various countries abolished it completely. What is your religion's take on it? What about your country? How about you personally?

Corporal punishment - Wikipedia

That's a no go. I approved of it at one time. But nowadays, I'd never use it for my own kids.

I don't think my religion, Druidry or even Paganism as a monolith, has any one particular take on the topic.

And unfortunately it is legal in my country (US), and has even been brought back in a couple of schools, in I think Missouri
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
No id never do it. Never considered it, perhaps im lucky yo have children who are reactive to a sternly pointed finger.

Ive lived in the England and now in France. Corporal punishment is illegal in both countries.
For England, isn't this just in schooling? I think it is illegal overall in Scotland and Ireland, but not yet in England. Given there are restrictions as to what can be carried out.
 

Secret Chief

nirvana is samsara
No id never do it. Never considered it, perhaps im lucky yo have children who are reactive to a sternly pointed finger.

Ive lived in the England and now in France. Corporal punishment is illegal in both countries.
I think it's banned in schools, but not with parents/care-givers in England? And depends on which bit of our disunited kingdom.

Social scientists are virtually unanimous that physical chastisement has more negative than positive effects.
 
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