Michael Eric Dyson has an opinion piece
at the NY Times this morning about the rampant child abuse that takes
place in many African American homes. The article was occasioned by
Adrian Peterson's physical abuse of his four-year-old child and his
reliance on religious excuses for this behavior.
If beating children began, paradoxically, as a violent preventive of even greater violence, it was enthusiastically embraced in black culture, especially when God was recruited. As an ordained Baptist minister with a doctorate in religion, I have heard all sorts of religious excuses for whippings.
It's
good to see light thrown on this shady practice. To be clear, this also
happens in white families. And the abusive white parents often cite the
same "religious" excuses for their behavior. God is such a convenient
fall-back position. But of course, there is no god. These folks are
simply evil for beating their children.
Beating a child is never
okay. All parents who engage in such abuse perpetuate a cycle of
violence, guaranteeing that their children will grow up to beat their
children. This makes no sense. And bringing god into it doesn't help at
all. The mass murders being committed by ISIS are the final, logical
extension of this way of thinking. God made them do it. Sorry, but that
doesn't fly.
