[Austin, TX] Church leaders accused in beating -- Boy in intensive care with kidney failure

The Houston Chronicle ^ | July 9, 2002 | Armando Villafranca

[Catspaw]

That's what my sis the RN said. But it's going to take a while for the kid to recover.

[RGSpincich]

it's going to take a while for the kid to recover.

Lousy deal. Think they'll be able to put his left hand on a Bible to take the oath before he testifies?

Guess that's rhetorical, I haven't seen a Bible in court since Perry Mason was in black & white.

[Catspaw]

Nope, no more Bibles. Heck, half of them can't tell their right from their left.

All right, all right, you got me. I can't either. I just know my right is the one without the wedding ring. Sometimes I have to peek.

[RGSpincich]

Reminds me of the time I was teaching my wife to drive. Told her to move over a little to the left, left, LEFT!

As she got closer and closer to the parked cars on the Right.

Did you know Sears has a driving school? Lifesaver.

[Catspaw]

Out of desparation--and my failure to follow her directions to her girlfriend's houses--my daughter crept into my room one night & put a big L on my left hand & a big R on my right hand in permanent black magic marker. It didn't work. She finally resorted to saying, "take an UP at the next corner & a DOWN at the following corner," because that was the direction of the turn indicator. Now THAT worked.

She's a problem-solver, that kid of mine.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Does the admission on the part of their father that they regularly prescribe for their congregants, in excruciating detail, various kinds of beatings for their children not repugnant to you?

If the "beatings" are anything with severity remotely approaching what happened, it is bizarre as hell (literally). How, in fundie-heaven Texas, could a church calling itself Baptist be what is basically an S&M club, and not be publicly "outed" by every other halfway decent church in the vicinity? Why isn't Child and Family Services (or whatever they call it in Texas) swarming this outfit?

[Illbay]

Churches of this kind--independent congregations--don't really mingle with others.

[RGSpincich]

Link

Williams was involved in many church activities growing up. In fact, she was even part of "Olympic Summer." That program's beliefs fell under a national spotlight last week when an 11-year-old boy's parents claimed Joshua and Caleb Thompson beat their son with a tree branch for cheating on a Bible exam.

Looks like we have gone from a child's indifference to Bible study to a kid cheating on a Bible exam. Capital punishment for cheating?

[Catspaw]

It looks like we'll need more of the story as the case progresses, but whether he was indifferent or was cheating, it doesn't justify the act. Right now, all I know is that these two are accused of beating a kid so badly that he went into kidney failure.

[Illbay]

I can't think of any situation short of self-defense where you would have to BEAT a child--and even then, I think you can restrain him without much injury.

I know it sounds terrible to think the reason was because he was "cheating" or whatever it was, but really there is no reason I can think of that would justify this.