Pastor gets 2 years for instructing parents to hit their children with wooden rods [View all]

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Black Earth pastor convicted of conspiracy to commit child abuse for advocating the use of wooden rods to spank children has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Philip Caminiti had been found guilty of eight counts for instructing members of his church that infants and toddlers were not too young to be struck to teach them to behave. He was a pastor at Aleitheia Bible Church, which meets in the homes of its members.

The 55-year-old told investigators his actions were in accordance with biblical teachings.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports ( ) Caminiti will be on extended supervision for six years after his release. He was also ordered Friday not to have contact with the church and have no leadership role in any church.

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http://www.necn.com/05/26/12/Wis-Earth-pastor-gets-2-years-in-child-
a/landing_nation.html?&apID=9f2dab1d94974a3ea30eb1e7ed1637c2

More detail:

A Dane County Wisconsin jury took a mere two hours to come to their verdict regarding the 54-year-old pastor’s fate. The short deliberation time was probably attributed to the fact that the case revolved around the beatings of young children, speculates Assistant District Attorney Shelly Rusch.

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As leader of the Aleitheia Bible Church, Caminiti would instruct church members and his own adult children to beat crying infants and toddlers with wooden spoons and dowels on their bare bottoms. According to the pastor, the bible encouraged these types of disciplinary beatings in order to punish an infant or toddler who was crying a “selfish” manner. Assistant District Attorney Shelly Rusch debated during Caminiti’s trial that his teachings took discipline to a level that was obscene. “What we have here are babies and children trying to develop into individuals,” Rusch told the jury in her closing argument, “and it’s being beaten out of them.”

Caminiti’s charges allege that two of the children beaten by followers of his doctrine were only two months old. When the beatings were stopped by authorities in 2010, the oldest victim was only five years old.

Ironically, the pastor was well aware that the punishments were illegal and instructed congregants to never strike their children while out in public. He never personally participated in carrying out the abuse himself.

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http://newsone.com/1952855/philip-caminiti-black-earth/