[Livia]

Originally Posted by lostalex

well i certainly agree with that point, that individuals should be held accountable for their own behavior. you won't hear me disagree with that point.

I was also talking about the larger issue of corporal punishment though, because others brought it up. that's how conversations work Livia, sometimes individual cases lead to larger philosophical issues. I thought we were talking in a more conversational tone, not just specifically about this one guy.

Well, beating a child the way he did should end up with him serving time for assault in my opinion. And the contention that people should believe that naughty children should be killed because it says so in the Torah is just ridiculous. As ridiculous as saying you should be stoned to death for planting two different crops in one field, or wearing two different cloths, or cutting your hair, or being gay are all equally ridiculous. These are ancient texts from a time when pagans were making blood sacrifices on a regular basis. It also says in the Torah that I can keep a slave so long as he is not a Jew. It might have been acceptable 5000 years ago but it's not acceptable today. Society moves on and so does religion and the interpretation of texts.