Televangelist Pat Robertson Calls For Physical Punishment Of Children

American televangelist Pat Robertson has once again proved himself to be a bigoted tyrant, this time claiming that non-religious children “should be beaten until they respect Christian belief,” during an interview for The 700 Club – a show that features news from a biblical perspective and holds interviews and discussions regarding religious practices on the Disney-owned channel ABC Family.

During the episode which aired on January 5, Robertson responded to an email sent in by a viewer who had claimed that her grandson disrespects their Christian faith when they visit their daughter on Christmas and chose not to visit this past year.

The viewer, aptly named Karen, wrote that “We declined going to our daughter’s house on Christmas this year because there is always an argument, hard feelings etc. One grandchild comes high on marijuana, cursing and challenging our faith. I correct him and have told my daughter to ask him to respect our beliefs, but he keeps it up… Were we wrong to not to attend another Christmas that leaves us upset or someone angry? I have shared my beliefs many times with them and am ridiculed by this grandson and son-in-law.”

Robertson’s immediate response? “Somebody take that kid to the woodshed and let him understand the blessings of discipline,” implying that without physical discipline the child would likely end up in prison. “He needs a strong male figure. He’s going to wind up in a correctional institution… And then he would wish he wasn’t such a smart, you know, wise guy. Because he’ll be disciplined in a way that he’ll never forget in some prison… He needs discipline in the worst possible way.”

 If the name Pat Robertson rings a bell, it would be due to the numerous occasions in which he has come out swinging against LGBTQI communities and other minorities.

In 2016, and in wake of the tragic Orlando Club shooting which claimed 49 lives, and left a further 53 wounded, Robertson said that “the best thing to do is to sit on the sidelines and let [LGBTQ rights advocates and Muslims] kill themselves.”

Two years prior, Robertson in another interview said of Christian acceptance of LGBTQI people: “You want to be loving and warm and let them know that you love them, but you cannot accept it and you cannot be an enabler. If they’re living together as a homosexual and you’re a Christian, you cannot say I accept this lifestyle…do we accept adultery? Do we accept fornication? Do we accept immorality?  Well, the answer is no. I don’t think we ought to be accepting of it.”

Robertson’s latest claims not only further cement his reputation as one of the most repugnant and damaging religious figures in modern America, but the claims also constitute child abuse. His suggestion of beating a child into submitting to supposedly “Christian beliefs” forms the very definition of indoctrination and violates the constitutional rights of the abused.