clipping submitted by SHT
The Worldwide Church of God was actually no better than the Catholic church when it came to abuse of the youth in the church. While the physical abuse was more physical with beating children than it was sexual abuse, the physical abuse from spanking has had a lasting effect on those who grew up in the church as small children.
We had a minister in Cincinnati as I was growing up, who said from the pulpit, that children should be paddled with 20 swats. 20 swats laid on so hard on the child's bottom that it could be heard as the preacher was preaching. He actually said that he wanted to hear the swats and the child cry. One little boy was so traumatized from previous beatings that as his daddy was carrying him out to be spanked kept saying, "No Daddy! No!" Church members thought this was so cute and totally acceptable!
The local Spokesman Club used to sell paddles for church members that were 1 inch thick with holes drilled in them to cut down wind resistance. Scriptures were also engraved on them just so that parents could not forget the Bible approved of what they were doing.
Who can forget the spanking tents at the Feast sites? The church knew of the abuse that went on inside them so much so that in the Pocono's they actually told members to not be so abusive in case the public saw and heard what was happening in them.
When it came to pedophiles, the church covered up for them just as the Catholics have. Many COG's even employed them at the direction of the presiding leader.
Is it no wonder why the vast majority of youth who grew up in the church are no longer members?