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Readers Write: Corporal punishment isn't a crime; corporal punishment isn't necessary; conservatives have a narrow focus

Letters to the Editor for Nov. 3, 2014 weekly magazine:

Greene: As a child I was disciplined in the same way that Adrian Peterson disciplined his son, and though I am not for child abuse, there is nothing wrong with physical discipline. 

McPherson: Corporal punishment is never necessary. 

Elmasian: Conservatives trust three news outlets while the left trusts nine sources.

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Billy Smith II/Houston Chronicle/AP/File
Attorney Rusty Hardin talks to the media on behalf of his client, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, behind Hardin, before leaving the Montgomery County courthouse in Conroe, Texas on Oct. 8. A judge tentatively set a Dec. 1 trial date for Peterson on a charge of felony child abuse for using a wooden switch to discipline his 4-year-old son earlier this year. Accompanying Peterson are is mother, Bonita Jackson, left, and his wife Ashley Brown Peterson.

| Wahiawa, Hawaii; and Berkeley, Calif.

Spanking isn’t always abuse 

The Oct. 20 cover story, “To spank or not to spank,” really bothered me because as a child I was disciplined in the same way that Adrian Peterson disciplined his son. He was arrested on child abuse charges for giving what he called a “whupping.” I got many of those whippings and I turned out well. There is a fine line between child abuse and disciplining your child by putting hands on him or her. I don’t condone child abuse or how Mr. Peterson disciplined his son. When signs of abuse are shown, there is no other choice but to report the individual. Hitting a child repeatedly is not going to change anything. Every parent sees discipline differently, and there are many ways to physically discipline a child that should not be considered child abuse. 

Kenan Greene
Wahiawa, Hawaii

Physical discipline not a necessity

Regarding the Oct. 20 Christian Science Perspective article, “No need for corporal punishment”: The truth that “Love is reflected in love” (see “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 17) precludes the necessity for either corporal or capital punishment. The Monitor has led in its stand against the latter, as violence only begets more violence, and this perspective on the former is consistent with a stance for a more spiritual view of life and identity.

Marilyn McPherson
Berkeley, Calif. 

Conservatives have a narrow focus

Regarding the Oct. 21 online story “Yes, conservatives watch Fox – but it’s more nuanced than that, survey finds” (CSMonitor.com): This was a good story, except the right is much more estranged than it indicates. According to a Pew survey, “Where News Audiences Fit on the Political Spectrum,” half or more of the “consistently conservative” trust just four news sources, three of which are talk shows. In contrast, a majority of the left trusts nine sources, all of which feature reported news.

Robert Elmasian 
via e-mail

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