TODAY’S WORLD: “Spare the Rod and….”

The Bible and corporal punishment…..

On Wednesday 23rd September, 1998, a significant ruling was made at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Nine judges concluded that a man had infringed the rights of his stepson by beating the boy with a garden cane. Article 3 of the European Human Rights Convention had, in their view been breached, and they awarded the 14 year-old boy £10,000 in damages against the British Government as well as £20,000 legal costs and expenses. (1)

 

 

BACKGROUND

The case had been taken to Strasbourg by the boy, with the backing of his natural father. Under a 138 year-old law, a parent in Britain had the right to inflict “reasonable chastisement” upon his child. The stepfather claimed that the boy (who was nine at the time) was “difficult” and had not responded to parental or school discipline. He argued that the punishment was both necessary and reasonable.

 

For centuries the use of corporal punishment was never questioned. In 1860 Chief Justice Cockburn established the principle that became enshrined in English law. British parents had the right, he declared, to administer punishment that was “moderate and reasonable”. School teachers, while children were in their care, were regarded as fulfilling the role of parents, and therefore they also had the right to administer corporal punishment.  Poland became the first country to ban corporal punishment in school in 1783. In 1987 use of the cane was banned in British state schools, and early in 1998 fee-paying private schools adopted the ban as well.

 

 

RIGHTS – OR RIGHT?

The judgment made by the European Court of Human Rights on that September day in 1998 raised the question of whether corporal punishment in the home should be banned altogether. A survey conducted in Americain 1980 discovered that 77% of parents believed “slapping” a twelve-year-old child was normal. As many as 71% of those questioned actually considered that the practice was “good”. Public opinion in Britain was similar at the time. When a mother was convicted of assault for smacking her nine-year-old daughter with a slipper in 1993 for stealing sweets, the judge quashed the conviction. “If a parent cannot slipper a child, the world is going potty,” he declared. However, Sweden prohibited the use of corporal punishment by parents back in 1979, and Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, and Norway soon followed suit.

 

What kind of response was there to this ruling in 1998 from the European Court of Human Rights?  The National Children’s Bureau and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children both welcomed the decision. Phillip Noyes, the NSPCC’s public policy director said that physical punishment has no place in modern, civilized society. Many politicians, however, disagreed with this view. Health Minister Paul Boateng recognized the need to protect children from abuse but stated: “We are equally determined to ensure that nothing undermines a parent’s right to discipline a child within a caring and loving environment.” William Hague, Conservative Party leader at the time, went further when he said, “It’s up to parents whether they want to smack their children. They don’t need a European judge to tell them whether or not they’re allowed to do that.” That makes sense – but will such a view prevail?

 

 

GOD’S VIEW

That judgment was made in Strasbourg some years ago. Since then a number of other cases relating to the discipline of children have featured in the news, and the campaign to outlaw corporal punishment has continued unabated. We need to turn our attention elsewhere for a different view on the subject. What does God say in His Word about the discipline of children? Is there a place for corporal punishment today? The book of Proverbs deals with this subject a number of times.

 

 

Discipline must commence when a child is young, for at that stage there is “hope”. Many parents, by failing to discipline their children from an early age, have discovered through painful experience how much more difficult it is to put matters right later on! The Scriptures declare: “Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying,” (Prov.19:18). There may be tears – and sometimes the tears will precede the chastening! They should not, however, be allowed to prevent the correction. “If thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.” Indeed, in the longer-term perspective, the punishment will have a delivering effect upon the child, (Prov.23:13-14).

 

 

UNRECOGNIZED LOVE

Some people will argue that physical punishment is degrading. “Surely, any parent who hurts his child does not love him,” they will contend. Actually, the Bible states the very opposite! “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes,” (Prov.13:24). Love causes God, our Father, to chasten us – His children. (See Hebrews 12:6-7.) He expects earthly parents to exercise the same loving discipline which, ultimately, will be for the child’s good.

 

 

 

WHAT A SHAME!

The book of Proverbs teaches the value of corporal punishment. A child that is left to its own ways will bring shame to its parents, for its unruly behaviour reflects upon the parents who have failed to administer discipline, (Prov.29:15). A corresponding lack of respect for one’s parents causes them to experience “shame” and “reproach”, (Prov.19:26). The son that grows into a “foolish” man rather than into a “wise” man brings “grief” to his father and “bitterness” to his mother, (Prov.17:25). On the other hand, a wise son who is the product of effective discipline and training makes his parents glad, (Prov.15:20). The parents of such a child will, in time, experience “rest” and “delight” as they see the effects of early discipline worked out in his later life, (Prov.29:17).

 

 

INCREASING CONFLICT

The judgment made by the European Court of Human Rights back in 1998 was a further indication of man’s “wisdom” replacing the principles of Scripture. More and more laws drawn up by the humanistic European Parliament are being forced upon the countries of the European Union – often against the wishes of the population of those countries. Many of those laws are totally opposed to the teaching and principles of the Bible. Meanwhile a generation of ill-disciplined and unruly children can be found in many western countries today, where the unrest among youth and cases of juvenile crime have reached alarming proportions. Is there no connection between these social trends and the abandonment of God’s Word?

 

Parental discipline and outright cruelty are two totally different things. Corporal punishment from a biblical standpoint was never intended to be brutal or aggressive – and children must be protected from the ill-tempered assaults of furious parents. However, there remains a place for firm yet loving discipline in the home – with corporal punishment where necessary. Chief Justice Cockburn’s principle of “moderate and reasonable” punishment in 1860 was in full accord with Scripture.

 

 

END NOTE:- (1) Details of this case were reported in Britain’s national newspaper The Daily Telegraph, on Thursday 24th September 1998, on pages 1, 2 & 12.