In “A Christian Perspective on the Child Discipline Referendum,” Rev Dr Margaret Mayman presents a theological justification for retaining the amended section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961, which has criminalised force used against a child for the purposes of parental correction. Mayman began by offering three standard arguments for repealing the old section 59, […]
Entries Tagged as 'Smacking'
Fisking Margaret Mayman: The Flawed Moral Theology on the Smacking Referendum
July 7th, 2009 7 Comments
Tags: Crimes Act · David Benatar · Hermeneutics · Margaret Mayman · Referendum · s59 · Smacking · Theology
Anti-Smacking Referendum: Vote No Website Launched
June 22nd, 2009 10 Comments
Visit the official Vote No website to get an overview of the issues, facts and arguments as to why you should vote no in the upcoming referendum on smacking being de-criminalised. You can also pick up banners to advertise the site: To put this banner on your site, copy and paste this code where you […]
Tags: Smacking
Not Voting is a Vote for Keeping Smacking Criminalised
June 22nd, 2009 6 Comments
I just had an interesting conversation with someone who is not remotely political, a sort of Joe Bloggs citizen. (Being somewhat outside normal, in that I like politics and analysing and debating issues and would find life boring without such things, I don’t interact with many ‘normal’ people on a day to day basis so […]
Tags: Smacking
We’re Confused about the Anti-Smacking Referendum Question
June 19th, 2009 12 Comments
… we’re confused that anyone could find it confusing. The referendum question is: Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand? Should it or shouldn’t it? It seems pretty simple to me. According to TVNZ, Labour leader Phil Goff says the question implies that if you vote […]
A Bill to Amend the Anti-Smacking Law
March 19th, 2009 5 Comments
Family First have just released that a private members bill is set to go into the ballot to amend the anti-smacking law. Assuming it is well drafted, ACT’s John Boscawen is the MP parents across the country can thank. While we do not buy into the notion that this law should be changed because the […]
Hone’s Inconsistency
March 19th, 2009 2 Comments
Hone Harawira has called for the men who assaulted Prime Minister John Key to be not dealt with by the courts because the assault was minor and understandable. This is the same Member of Parliament who voted to criminalise parents for giving their kids a light smack who now wants adults who (allegedly) lightly assaulted […]
Tags: Bad Reasoning · Smacking
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
No Defences Permitted for the Accused
June 19th, 2009 36 Comments
In, The referendum campaign is underway, No Right Turn’s Idiot/Savant gives an excellent example of an argument we see coming up a lot in the debate around the upcoming referendum on smacking. In addition to trotting out the standard ad hominem, that everyone who supports the reinstatement of the old section 59 of the Crimes […]
Tags: Bad Reasoning · Crimes Act · Defences · Idiot/Savant · Referendum · s59 · Smacking · Sue Bradford · William Blackstone