There are No Pearls of Wisdom in the Pearls' Book on Child Rearing

This is one of the saddest stories I have mentioned.
In a sense, the story is finished. It is over. Seven-year-old Lydia Schatz is dead.

In February 2010 Lydia died at the hands of Christian parents who were using a disciplining method proposed by Michael and Debi Pearl of No Greater Joy Ministries, a Fundamentalist Christian organization. Their method is outlined in their controversial book, "How to Train Up a Child". (I ask you as a Christian parent...is this book in your library? Are you basing your discipline methods on this book?)

Lydia was adopted. By Christian parents who thought they were serving the Lord by adopting three orphans from Liberia. And they believe it their "Christian duty" to discipline their children. And to insure they did it right...bringing an obstinate child to submission and obedience...they used the methods taught by the Pearls.

They beat Lydia so severely over several hours time (because she did not or could not comply in correctly pronouncing a reading word) that massive destruction to tissues underlying her skin caused her kidneys to shut down. Lydia died.

A 911 call brought law enforcement to the house. Her older sister was hospitalized with severe kidney damage due to similar beatings given in the previous days.

In April 2011 Kevin Schatz and Elizabeth Schatz were sentenced for their crime. Kevin will serve at least 22 years of two life sentences for second-degree murder and torture. His wife, Elizabeth, will serve at least 13 years for voluntary manslaughter and corporal injury on a child.

I hope you will read Brad Hirschfield's column in yesterday's Washington Post entitled "Beating Children In the Name of God".

Especially his last paragraph which reads..."There is no way to bring Lydia Schatz back, or to undo the damage to her still living siblings, or any of the other children who are beaten in the name of God. We can however do everything in our power to put a stop to the practice. For the sake of these kids and for the sake of the traditions we hold dear, that is what we must do."

You can read more about Lydia's short life here.
You can read what one writer wrote about the Pearls' method of discipline here.
Or you can read my previous posts here.
You can view the Anderson Cooper video at CNN here.

My prayers tonight are for the little children. I hope yours are as well.
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Even a Child Can Recognize Injustice

Even a child can recognize injustice when the supposed "justice" consists of whippings followed by whippings followed by whippings over a several-hour period. And sometimes a child, recognizing the injustice, will resist to the point of death. I don't know if this is what Lydia Schatz did...resisted because she recognized injustice. I don't know that.

Sometimes a child, when being confronted with whipping after whipping, is unable to comply with the parents' demand...in this case the pronunciation of a reading word.

In either case, Lydia's non-compliance was considered as rebellion to the parental authority. Lydia either would not or could not comply. And the whippings continued. Parental authority demanded it.

And perhaps this betrayal of parental love simply shows the true nature of the hearts of Kevin and Elizabeth. Hearts that were hardened to recognizing what true love demands....love God, love one another.

Whippings carried out over a period of hours to the point of a child's death do not translate to "love". Not in my world, anyway.

Lydia Schatz, Dead.
Zariah Schatz, several days in critical care.
A biological son with marks of whipping.
Six other children in the home, one of the older of whom was being taught by her parents to administer switchings/discipline.

The beatings that caused Lydia's kidneys to shut down (destruction of tissue underlying the skin) were being administered in a manner prescribed and taught by Michael Pearl and Debi Pearl, self-proclaimed authorities in "parenting" under their No Greater Joy Ministry. Sadly, many Christians follow the Pearl's child-rearing methods because they are "Christians". I wonder how many would be looking at their methods in a different light if they were under the guise of Atheism or some cult or some secular authority. Does the label of "Christian" absolve them of accountability for presenting methods that can be mis-used so frighteningly?

Disclaimer: The Pearls do not out-and-out recommend whipping to death...they do, however, advocate not ceasing until the child submits to a state of utter submission. There are many who say their children have been easily taught obedience with a light tap on the leg or single switching. But we all know there are children, who if disciplined in this manner, will rebel totally. At the least those children will leave home at the earliest possibility and never look back at their "loving" parents. At the worst, those children will suffer mightily under this "rod of instruction". Either way, there will be no glory to God in all of it. God forbid that we treat our children in this manner.

I expect there to be more about this in days ahead. But when? So far I see no national news media coverage. I do see local news. And there are many blogs speaking to this. But where are the national network news people?

If you've already heard about this case (my previous posts) you needn't read all the following. I'm linking them here to verify what I have written. Now...go hug your kids.

Paradise Post, Paradise, CA Feb 26, 2010 Questions About Ministry Grow
Chico Enterprise Record, Chico, CA Feb 26, 2010 Plea Delayed in Fatal Beating
Chico Enterprise Record, Feb 25, 2010 Beating Draws National Attention (where?)
Oroville Mercury Register, Oroville, CA Feb 25, 2010 Plea Entry Delayed
Oroville Mercury Register, Feb 19, 2010 Schatz Girl Released from Hospital
Chico Enterprise Record, Feb 12, 2010 Paradise Parents Face Murder Torture Charges
Oroville Mercury Register, Feb 10, 2010 Paradise Parents Face Murder Torture Charges
Paradise Post, Feb 09, Neighbors Surprised By Murder Case

The following blogs comment a bit more indepth on this tragedy as well as take apart some of the teachings of the Pearls.
TulipGirl
Elizabeth Esther
Beauty for Ashes

"He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God."
Micah 6:8

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What Harris (Correctly) Calls "Popular, Pervasive, Controversial"

It's in my head...this story...this story about Lydia Schatz...who died earlier this month at the hands of parents who were using a parenting style taught by Michael and Debi Pearl. I can't get it out of my head.

The methods espoused (nationally distributed by the Pearls) are, as Lynn Harris of Salon calls them, "popular, pervasive and controversial". I want you to focus on the word "controversial". I want you to know that their methods need to be held up to the light of day, by ordinary people, by people who know with the first reading that there is "something not quite right" about their method of child training.

Thanks to the child training methods of the Pearls, Lydia Schatz is dead. Seven years old. For mispronouncing a reading word. According to local news media Lydia was held down by her mother and "whipped" by her father. Not just once. Not just 10 swats with the 1/4 plastic plumbing line. No! Lydia was whipped multiple times over a several hour period. Tortured. The "mild" effect of that supposedly ideal whipping instrument (as espoused by the Pearls) was over the top. The tissues in Lydia's body, the tissues under the skin, were damaged so severely that her organs shut down. Lydia died that night.

Admittedly, the Pearls do not advocate whipping "to death". But they do advocate whipping to compliance, to submission, to whimpering. Beginning with 10 swats and continuing until that compliance, submission, whimpering appears.

Kevin Schatz and his wife, Elizabeth Schatz, are currently being held in the Butte County Jail in Oroville, California. According to the local news they face homicide charges in the death of their adopted daughter, Lydia, and face other charges in regards to injuries to another daughter, Zariah, and injuries to a son.

Again, read this article by Lynn Harris at Salon.

Also, read a post by Paul Mathers here.

Read Laurie Mathers here.

And see what TulipGirl has written here.


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Abhorrence Hits Me On This!

I find it exceedingly strange that this has not yet hit national news. The only news links I find are located in the area of the crime, in the town of (can you believe it?) Paradise, Butte County, California. And yet this murder is already two weeks old. Murder of a 7-year-old girl. Currently in jail are her parents, Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz.

On February 6, 2010, 7-year-old Lydia Schatz was (dare I say "apparently?") beaten to death, several times beaten, multiple beatings, which beatings apparently extended over a several-hour span. The muscle tissue underlying the skin was so damaged that her body organs shut down and she died. Her mother called 911 about 1:00 o'clock in the morning to report that her daughter was not breathing.

Lydia's 11-year old sister was hospitalized in critical condition for similar bruising. The other eight of the nine children in the family (six biological children, three adopted) have indicated that the type of beating Lydia received was "normal" punishment in the household. One news article maintains that an older daughter in the family was being taught to administer punishment in this "appropriate" manner.

And why was Lydia beaten? Because she failed (or couldn't) pronounce a particular word from the book she was reading. The parents, Kevin Schatz and his wife, Elizabeth, purportedly were following teachings of Michael and Debi Pearl, founders of No Greater Joy Ministries and authors of the controversial religious parenting book "How to Train Up a Child."

You can read more about this horrifying event and the purported use by Lydia's parents of the ministry espoused by Michael and Debi Pearl by going to TulipGirl's series of posts here and by reading Laurie's "Beauty for Ashes blog" here. Be prepared to be horrified, stunned, dropped to your knees.

The methods espoused by the Pearls may be familiar in some home schooling circles but is considered controversial and refuted by many Christian parents as being unChristlike and unloving as well as abusive and destructive.

Please be in prayer for these children. And go hug your own.

Added later...some more links.
Paul Mathers at Paulus Torchus
Lynn Harris at salon.com
Rebecca Diamond at her blog here

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