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Reporter: Jonathan Creek

Evangelist Michael Pearl is spreading the message on his own DVD called, “The Joy of Training”

In reality, there is little joy in the man’s ranting. The DVD is all about encouraging parents to hit their children, even babies, with belts and sticks — and get away with it.

The man who sells the DVD in Australia is John Angelico. He runs an online bookshop, and is also a Convener of the Presbyterian Church.

Michael Pearl and his wife Debbie are from the “No Greater Joy Ministry”, a wing of their own incorporation in Tennessee, the United States. They claim their radical and disturbing ways of raising children are based on the bible and common sense. “He that spareth his rod hateth his son but he that lotheth him chasteneth him betimes — so if you don’t use that rod it’s paramount to hating your child”.

“Those rods, they’re weapons really, they are weapons that are going to hurt children and not teach them anything”, Joe Tucci from the Australian Childhood Foundation.

He is a qualified psychologist and is calling the Pearl’s preaching horrifying. “I feel really angry and I feel really distressed for the kids who have experienced this kind of discipline in their lives. Imagine feeling the sting and the pain seven or eight times a day, when you are only eighteen months old. A child’s brain will not be able to manage that”, Joe said.

Michael Pearl instructs parents on how to handle everyday situations, but remember, he has no qualifications on childhood development — just five children of his own and a well worn smacking rod — he calls it a switch.

Lesson one — putting a child to bed. “And if you see Johnny start to get up, run in and give him a switch on the leg and step back out of the room — don’t talk to him”.

And if your child doesn’t like traveling in the car, Pearl suggests setting the car seat up in a corner of the house. “Tie her in the thing and then about every five minutes walk by and give her one lick on the legs and say you are going to have to stay in the car seat till noon. Then ten fifteen minutes later give her a lick, you are going to have stay in the car seat till noon, right when the clock gets there. And let her know you are going to win this contest. The clock has reached noon, now you can get out. Tomorrow at ten o’clock same thing — back in the car seat you’ll do this every day until she sits in there quietly”

And even babies don’t escape.

‘The fact the he’s promoting the use of a stick for a baby under the age of twelve months old; and a bigger stick for kids under the age of two and three; and an even bigger one for teenagers is just not right. It can cause injuries, it’s an assault and he really misunderstands the whole concept of child development”, Joe said.

John Angelico admits he raised his children the same way. “I go by the biblical guidelines”, he said.

“I think he should be ashamed of himself, firstly for bringing it into the country and he should withdraw it from distribution straight away”, Joe said.

“It’s violence he’s pedaling and you shouldn’t be doing it. To take a piece of conduit to a one or two year old, or five year old, or even a sixteen seventeen year old, of varying sizes is, in my opinion, outside the law because public policy says you shouldn’t be administering this sort of punishment against children”, said lawyer, Bernie Balmer.

In his opinion Michael Pearl isn’t the only one breaking the law. Those who sell it, like John Angelico, also have responsibilities. “You could see it as crime by agent really. If he’s encouraging people to break the law, he should also be considered as a person who breaks the law. Indeed, it is serious”, he added.

And there is an admission Michael Pearl knows what he’s preaching breaks the law. Parts of his DVD deal with how to conceal weapons and not get caught using them.

“I think we have moved on from last century. I think we have got to arrive in this current environment and treat children with the respect that deserve and nurture them, don’t bash them”, Bernie said.

“The more kids feel pain, the more kids feel fear, the less that they’ll learn. Most Australian parents understand that”, Joe said.

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