To call the NSPCC ‘evil’ is just not fair
An open letter to Rev Ivan Foster, Free Presbyterian Church minister and editor of the monthly website publication The Burning Bush.
| Didn’t Jesus preach that we should love everybody? Did he not say, ‘Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me?’ |
This week members of Children's Express, a programme of learning through journalism for young people aged 8-18, read your article about the NSPCC on your Church's Burning Bush website (Headline 'NSPCC in coalition with Sinn Fein in opposition to God's word').
We don't agree with your view that the NSPCC's campaign against corporal punishment in schools and in the home is evil. The NSPCC helps a lot of children with very serious problems it is not an evil organisation.
Because it helps so many children you could argue that the NSPCC is in fact a very Christian organisation. After all, didn't Jesus preach that we should love everybody, even our enemies? Did he not say, in Matthew 25:40: "Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me?"
To hit someone is not a very loving act. You could even argue that hitting children is evil, because it goes against Christ's word.
To call the NSPCC evil because it contradicts something that was said more than 2,000 years ago is not fair, because what was said by Solomon in the book of Proverbs has no relevance to 21st century society. Times have changed. Nowadays people think beating up children is wrong.
Should we really be listening to Solomon anyway? The Bible shows that he was a polygamist and a cruel ruler, who assassinated his political opponents and built his kingdom on forced labour. Is this an example for young people today?
We don't believe that corporal punishment is "necessary and right" as you say and there's no commandment that says it's evil to speak out against what you think is wrong.
We can think of plenty of arguments why parents and teachers should stop hitting our children. If you hit your children they get scared of you and it reduces the amount of love you have in the family. Children then get used to growing up with violence and think that's the way to solve their problems - so it leads to more violence when they're adults.
It's even been said that corporal punishment is ineffective because small kids think that the punishment has come from the slipper, and not from their mum and dad. Surely if you want to teach your kids a lesson, you don't want to make him or her scared of a slipper?
Even if you accept that it's OK for parents to hit their kids, then it should only be in the most extreme circumstances, and the punishment should be absolutely minimal - like a clip round the ear, not a belt with a slipper or a 'rod'.
Smacking should be a matter for individual parents to decide, not for schools. If we were parents, we wouldn't want a teacher or headmaster hitting our children. As children, we'd want to be sure that any adults who do hit kids are not so irresponsible that they really hurt them - it can be all too easy to go too far.
Ultimately, we think that corporal punishment is all about expressing power over children. The parents or teachers who smack children feel as if they're in control.
But kids who get hit often repeat the same behaviour themselves. You get a cycle of violence. There are other forms of punishment which do not involve physical pain and which do not put children in fear of adults.
We hope you think about what we've said and maybe even change your view about the NSPCC and corporal punishment.
About the team
This open letter was produced by Drew Mikhail, 17, Orlaith Graham Wood and Amy Magowan Green, 12, Johnny Mackim and Mark Luney, 13, and Thomas Kielty, 15. It was published in The Irish News on May 30 2001, and republished in The News Letter on May 31.
