TURNING THE BIBLE INTO A PUNISHMENT

People Magazine reports in its October 23 issue on the shocking reality of Heartland Christian Academy, a boot camp for juvenile delinquents in Missouri.  Founded by a rich insurance executive named Charles Sharpe, it sounds as though it operates on the principle of tormenting these kids as much as possible. The lead paragraph of the article notes that 14-year old Matt Smith has been paddled with a two-and-a-half foot wooden paddle 300 times in the last 19 months -- that's almost 16 times per month, or about every other day.  Some of the punishments were for things like looking at a girl or passing a note.  At some point, isn't it obvious that the paddling isn't working and perhaps some other tack should be tried?  It was Smith who stated, "They take the Bible and turn it into a punishment."

The whole article is depressing beyond words.  The school seems to be built around a model that focuses on punishment and shame as the primary or only antidote to adolescent bad behavior.  The punishments include frequent paddlings, isolation, food deprivation, hours of extra chores, and shaming.  The shaming includes forcing girls to wear an ugly "granny" dress, and boys to wear a bow tie and suit.  Those who run away or self-harm have to wear an orange jumpsuit. 

Past investigations revealed that one 16 year old student was forced to sit in a metal chair overnight.   Five staffers were also arrested for forcing 11 kids chest-high into a manure pit.  They were acquitted on the grounds that that is not child abuse according to the legal definition.

Except for specific investigations in response to specific complaints, however, the State of Missouri does not monitor, supervise, or regulate Heartland Christian Academy. It is a faith-based facility and therefore free of any state monitoring.  Aside from my disapproval of the actual tactics used at Heartland, I am frightened by the vast opportunties for abuse and sadism in an unmonitored institution based on a punitive a model with scores of potential victims who, as "troubled teens," will automatically be seen to lack credibility if they report. 

I can only imagine what it is like to live in this kind of punitive atmosphere as a teenager.  Especially at that age, I would imagine it would feel like a hopeless and despairing eternity of being trapped and helpless and abandoned.  I am sure some or most of the kids did bad things, and shaming and punishment seem like they should work  and that it's the "tough" thing to do. But I suspect that these tactics produce only short-term compliance and lead to far worse behaviors and misery for these kids in adult life. 

Comments

[Chipmunk]

Torture and abuse are not punishment. It seems that this group is preparing the next generation of appartchiks who will be willing and able to carry out the abuses the government is willing to inflict in such exciting travel destinations as Guantanamo Bay. Sadly, the State of Missouri appears unwilling to act and will probably only step in after some poor child is killed. Too bad there will be a lot of damage done under the name of religious education before that happens.

[amy analog]

this is awful. if a parent was doing these sorts of things social services would be on their doorstep.

the psychological damage being caused to these children cannot be undone

[j0lt]

This horror of a school is one of the downsides of the completely hands-off approach some states take with respect to religious schools & pre-schools in the name of religious liberty.

[evil_fizz]

you know, there was a case here in Ohio recently about a man who claimed that his religion required sexual relationships between adult men and pubescent boys. Take to its logical extreme, the idea is terrifying to contemplate.

I also seem to recall the Bible affirming the use of stoning...

[Dodo]

i don't get what right people who do this have to call themselves christian????

[claire]

i just heard about a new book that goes into why these behavioral camps don't work, written by someone who went through one as a teenager and who has since studied how damaged people come out of those camps. i cannot, however, remember the title or author. curses! and it had a pretty clever name that didn't include any words like "juvenile delinquent behavioral camp", so i'm not finding it on amazon just yet. i will keep hunting for it, and perhaps another reader will know?

[Richard]

I don't believe there are benefits to corporal punishment or shaming children as discipline, but if your point was that they're-Christian-and-look-at-how-bad-they-are, I say that the fact that their motivation may be religious, or in part religious, is but is a footnote to the fact that they're loons. Aethists and religious moderates will beat kids up too, and come up with their own rationalizations for doing so. I am interested in the link between the Academy and the state. If the state is funding the program, I certainly think it should be allowed to know what goes on there.

Chipmuck amused me with here comparison of the kids at the Academy with terror suspects at Gitmo. Struck me as foolish, but that's just me.

[The Happy Feminist]

but if your point was that they're-Christian-and-look-at-how-bad-they-are. . .

Er, not sure why you would think that. While I have been critical of some aspects of certain types of Christian belief, I have been nothing but respectful of Christians, including conservative Christians, throughout my time as a blogger.

These people's Christianity is relevant for at least two reasons: (1)they are in a sense perverting the Bible (which is the sense I got from the kid's statement that they are "turning" the Bible into a punishment), which is bad for Christianity; and (2) the fact that it's a Christian school is the reason the State won't monitor what is going on there.

So please don't try to read Christian-bashing into this.

[annamal]

"Chipmuck amused me with here comparison of the kids at the Academy with terror suspects at Gitmo. Struck me as foolish, but that's just me. "

Comparing two groups of people detained and tortured while agents of the government at best turn a blind eye and at worst actively participate is foolish?

[Richard]

>>> Annamal wrote: Comparing two groups of people detained and tortured while agents of the government at best turn a blind eye and at worst actively participate is foolish?

Yes.