Cross-posted at http://www.tips-q.com/content/james-dobson-encourages-child-abuse

James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, advocates the systematic abuse of children. While this usually goes under the radar as “spanking,” Dobson’s recommendations have the potential to cause serious damage — physically and emotionally.

• Dobson instructs his followers that corporal punishment is a religious obligation.
• Dobson believes that corporal punishment of children should begin, in some cases, as early as 15 months of age.
• Dobson recommends against hitting children with the hand. He advocates delivering pain and punishment with either a paddle or a switch.

Dobson’s own words:

There is no excuse for spanking babies or children younger than 15 to 18 months of age. But midway through the second year (18 months) boys and girls become capable of knowing what your are telling them to do or not do.

In some states, striking a child under two years of age is a felony.

If children cry for longer than five minutes, “the child is merely complaining…I would require him to stop the protest crying, usually by offering him a little more of whatever caused the original tears.

Nice! Beat the hell out of the kid and if the kid cries too long from the beating — beat him or her some more.

Many — if not most — child development experts believe that spanking damages children and it teaches violence over reason. In fact, spanking is lazy parenting; It’s simply easier to hurt the kid.

At the end of the day, though, the primary issue is that spanking teaches people to behave in order to avoid painful consequences. In a just society, we should teach people to behave in certain ways by being motivated to do the right thing. This is what creates confident, contributing adults with an acute sense of right and wrong.

I cannot get this creepy image out of my head. The idea of holding down a toddler in order to cause pain with a belt or paddle is something that I just cannot fathom. The objective is to cause pain and to bring the youngster to tears. Then, if he cries for too long the process is to beat him up again. Exactly what could a 15 month old possibly do to deserve being tortured in this fashion? Forget to flush?