John,
You may be right – you’ve got more experience with these things, than me – but I thought it was a tough call where to comment, in this case. After all, David essentially hijacked the whole discussion by saying “Hey, let’s go discuss this over on my blog” when Martin originally brought up the topic we were talking about.
So, I concluded it was more appropriate to comment here, since this is where the discussion originated. Also, since David’s blog post was linked to in a comment in *this* thread, it served as simply a long comment. At least, that’s how I saw it.
I could well be wrong about my conclusion, from a netiquette perspective – happy to learn – but those were my thought processes, for what they’re worth.
David,
You make some good points. My stance on the matter, is a bit less extreme than Martin’s, and I think you and I agree, mostly. I thought you were originally saying that religious upbringing wasn’t child abuse, when it clearly can be.
I can see Martin’s point, however. Even if the damage is small, it’s still damage. A small amount of abuse is still, well, abuse, isn’t it? A slap on the bottom when a child is caught lying, or whatever, is still hitting the child. Or sending them to their rooms without supper when they refuse to eat what they’re given.Or teaching them things that aren’t real, actually *are* real.
Let me ask you this: If a child thinks God is watching him all the time, and he’ll go to Hell if he’s not a good boy, so he feels terribly guilty about masturbating, would you class that as emotional abuse?
I would. And that’s not even at the extreme end of the spectrum we’re talking about.
