Dogmatic authorities

By DARRELL MCDONALD

Tuesday, June 18, 2002, Page A16

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. -- I was disappointed to see only one letter in response to Margaret Wente's Saturday column, and that in support of the anti-spanking lobby (Protect The Children -- letter, June 17). I believe Ms. Wente made it quite clear that the children she observed were not abused, nor likely to be. While I do not agree with the dogmatic application of religious teaching of any persuasion, it is apparent to me that the "authorities" in the case of the Aylmer, Ont., children were equally dogmatic and equally wrong in their application of the "teaching" of their manuals.

What we see here is the collision of two fundamentalisms. Unfortunately, one of these has the power of the state behind it.

It would be interesting to see a comparison of the relative success and happiness of a group of young adults from the Church of God with a group of same-age young people brought up, unspanked, in our "advanced" society.