PZ Myers alerts us to the obscene Christian-based double-murder of children in the name of education, by repeated beating for such offenses as mis-pronouncing a word.

The Schatzes were arrested Saturday morning after their adopted daughter, Lydia, age 7, stopped breathing. She was subsequently pronounced dead.

Her 11-year-old sister, Zariah Schatz, remains in critical condition at a Sacramento children’s hospital, though she is showing some signs of recovery. The two were adopted at the same time with an infant girl, now 3, from the same African orphanage about three years ago.

Prosecutors allege the two victims were subjected to “hours” of corporal punishment by their parents on successive days last Thursday and Friday with a quarter-inch-wide length of rubber or plastic tubing, which police reportedly recovered from the parents’ bedroom.

Police allege that the younger girl was being disciplined for mis-pronouncing a word during a home-school reading lesson the day before she died.

The two young girls reportedly sustained deep bruising and multiple “whip-like” marks on their back, buttocks and legs, which authorities believe resulted in significant muscle tissue breakdown that impaired their kidneys and possibly other vital organs, said Ramsey.

They were using the strangely named xtian book: “How to Train Up a Child“, by No Greater Joy Ministries (Barf warning).
The publishers claim that they do not advocate violence of any kind, but they are lying, like any “good” Christian will do without compunction.

Michael Pearl, CEO No Greater Joy Ministries, Inc. makes the following BIZARRE assertion

We do not teach “corporal punishment” nor “hitting” children. We teach parents how to train their children, which sometimes requires the limited and controlled application of a spanking instrument to hold the child’s attention on admonition.

Even the thickest reader will note the clear, blatant, obvious contradiction between the first and second sentence.
Is he lying, or simply been rendered so insanely cretinous by his delusions that he is capable of such alarming cognitive dissonance?

But wait:  Paul Burnett has actually read the sick tome:

Over to you, Paul:

Here we go: “In Defense of Biblical Chastisement” -http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/articles/general-view/archive/2001/may/01/in-defense-of-biblical-chastisement-part-1/ (There’s also a Part 2.)

Here’s some “chapter” headings:

We hold beliefs that ultimately dictate the application of the rod in child training.

Proper application of the rod is essential to communicating the Christian world-view.

Here’s the quote we were looking for, in Part 2:

What instrument would I use?

As a rule, do not use your hand. Hands are for loving and helping. If an adult swings his or her hand fast enough to cause pain to the surface of the skin, there is a danger of damaging bones and joints. The most painful nerves are just under the surface of the skin. A swift swat with a light, flexible instrument will sting without bruising or causing internal damage. Many people are using a section of ¼ inch plumber’s supply line as a spanking instrument. It will fit in your purse or hang around you neck.

(Ed: As far as I am able to discern, “¼ inch plumber’s supply line” is what the police call “rubber hose“, and is used exclusively by torturers who do not wish to leave any tell-tale marks of a severe beating.
Obscene is not severe enough a word to describe this criminal advice.
But it IS Biblically mandated.)