Source: Religion News Service
AYLMER, ONTARIO, August 4, 2001: A Christian fundamentalist group in Canada has moved their children to Indiana and Ohio in the USA to take advantage of looser laws on corporal punishment. The Canadian authorities forbade them from beating their children with sticks, something the group says is allowed by their Bible. The group may even claim religious persecution by the Canadians (possibly a first for that country), according to the Washington Post, and seek asylum in the US. The 28 mothers and their 80 children, all under 16, emigrated to the US about three weeks ago. They are members of the nondenominational Church of God. Seven children had been removed from one of their homes in Canada until the parents promised not to beat them with sticks any more. The Canadians will remain in the United States “until we get the OK that we’re not going to be checked up on,” group member Christine Rabel said. Rabel, a mother of four, said she “occasionally” punishes some of her children with a switch. “I was raised that way and that’s the way that I want to raise my children,” she said.