Courtesy of Raw Story:
A pastor at the Bible Baptist Church in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey is coming under fire after his church posted a video of him claiming to have converted a “smart aleck” youth by “punching him in the chest as hard as I could.”
Pastor Eric Dammann begins by saying that he met a young man in Calgary named “Ben,” who was “a nice kid, but one of those — he was a real smart aleck. He was a bright kid, which didn’t help things — made him more dangerous.”
“We were outside one day at youth group,” Dammann continues, “and he was just trying to push my buttons. He was just kind of not taking the Lord serious [sic].”
“So I walked over to him and went BAM! Punched him in the chest as hard as I could. I crumpled the kid. I just crumpled him.”
“Then I leaned over and said, ‘Ben, when are you going to stop playing games with God?’ I led that man to the Lord right there,” he concludes.
I found it enlightening that this guy identified the boy's intelligence as making him "dangerous." And responded by using violence in order to overcome the boy's resistance.
Sounds to me as if this guy did not have a great deal of faith in his religion if he felt the need to beat a child up in order to sell him on his particular brand of Christianity.
You know I have worked with kids for most of my adult life, in one form or another, and if I had EVER put my hands on a child the way this guy is describing they would have not only fired me but thrown my ass in jail.
Where, by the way, I would have deserved to go.
So, this Christian man is afraid of a little kid who's smart, and uses violence to shut him down...how is this any different from Boko Haram?
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess we could be glad the pastor didn't kill him. But if society (we) as a whole doesn't shut this down as unacceptable, that would be the next "logical" step for these nutjobs. The christofascists are more dangerous than a smart kid.
DeleteP.S. This nutjob pastor could have killed the small boy by "crumpling" him with a chest-punch. Could have collapsed his lungs, broken a rib, punctured his heart.
ReplyDeleteSometimes a heavy blow to the chest will just stop someone's heart, even in a healthy person.
DeleteYes. That is how idiots like this want their parishioners--dumb and defenseless. I suppose it never crossed his lizard brain to talk to the kid one on one to try to understand him.
ReplyDeleteHere is hoping after the kid's ribs heal he'll run like hell away from this "loving" christian pastor.
Run, Ben, run!
ReplyDeleteIsn't this what the repugs really want to do to anyone who's smart-alecky, intelligent, independent? Beat them until they cry uncle.
Just another "Christian" who is so dedicated to living out his "faith"
ReplyDeleteThey have his confession to assault on video, , now all the young man has to do is come forward and confirm the abuse.
Jail time, and losing his job sounds about right
This damned fool is lucky he didn't kill the kid!
ReplyDeleteIt's called Commotio Cordis and can be fatal.
Yes. Bright kids are dangerous. Hence, the need for home schooling indoctrination. And didn't sanctimonious Santorum reveal the unsettling fact that smart people will never buy into the GOP? The GOP elevated stupid to an art form when bottom of his class McCain chose know-nothing Palin as his running mate and accelerated our descent into 3rd world status.
ReplyDeleteWhy isn't this man of God (cough, cough, gag, gag) in jail or joining with ISIS?
So what makes him any different from a member if ISIS?
ReplyDelete
DeleteHis "church" gets a government subsidy by not paying taxes?
Also his flock of shearlings get tax writeoffs for their donations?
I shudder to think how this nasty piece of work would spin the verse about "turning the other cheek." Thank you again for all of the hard work you do, and for being the kind of man & father that you are. Stay safe
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many full grown men were led to the Lord thataway?
ReplyDeleteSounds like another low self-esteem preacher and child abuser in plain sight .I can only just shake my head.chicken shit preacher.
Well, I wasn't one of them. In fact, it was attacks such as this by my father that CHASED me away!
DeleteI think you hit the nail on the head when you said the guy did not have a great deal of faith in his religion. I am beginning to think that is the failure of most evangelical "christians", in that they think their omnipotent, omnipresent, all-knowing God needs their personal human help in controlling the universe He created! No faith there at all.
ReplyDeleteExactly....the biggest enemy of religion is intelligence...how is punching a child legal? He should be in jail
ReplyDeleteWill the New Jersey authorities look into this self-confessed child abuse? A grown man bragging that he sucker punched a small boy in the chest? It's a criminal offense.
ReplyDeleteGryphen's adding drama where there is none once again.
ReplyDeleteoh and there is no THEY in a custody arrangement. There is parents as in two. Only 2 people are involved. No one else matters in a child's life as far as custody and parenting
So two parents aren't a "they?"
Delete(And you don't think step parents matter in a child's life?)
I ask you, 5:29, if it is ONLY the parental figures and "No one else matters in a child's life as far as custody and parenting", why does each state have a child welfare division?
DeleteMOST of us are intelligent enough to recognize that not everyone is capable of being a decent parent and that there are times when parents need to be STOPPED!
And basing it on your expressed attitude, I feel you should be in that category. What this idiot did was abuse, plain and simple.
WTF? What are you commenting on?
DeleteMust be some real juicy things coming out of Levi's bid to get custody of his son from the drunk violent Bristol huh?
Alicia Francine Fix-Luke When did you become a Lawyer? You don't know shit about the Levi/Bristol custody battle, so go back to your basement and fap to Bristol's photos on the walls. You are a sick stalker, asshole.
DeleteAre you responding to the correct post, 5:29? No drama in punching a child? Hmm.
ReplyDeleteAnd the pronoun "they" describes two as well as twenty. I learned that in elementary school.
"If Christ were here there is one thing he would not be--a Christian." Mark Twain
ReplyDeleteorlin sellers
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." -- Mahatma Gandhi
DeleteProves there is no god.
ReplyDeleteIf this bothers you in the name of religion, then this will break your heart. It sure did mine:
ReplyDeleteThe Powerful Words Of A Palestinian Girl Describing The Brutal Invasion Of Her Home By Israeli Soldiers
Read, cry and share.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/01/11/the-powerful-words-of-a-palestinian-girl-describing-the-brutal-invasion-of-her-home-by-israeli-soldiers/
Oh my God, I'm sobbing.
DeleteThe inhumanity is truly unbelievable :( I fear for our world.
DeleteBetrayed by your own father. Disgusting.
ReplyDelete21-Year-Old Sentenced To Prison For Three Years After Coming Out As An Atheist On Facebook
A 21-year-old Egyptian man has been sentenced to three years in prison for coming out as an Atheist on Facebook. The AFP reports that Karim al-Banna was found guilty of violating Egypt’s blasphemy laws, after he allegedly made insulting remarks towards Islam. This occurred in a court in the Nile Delta province of Baheira, last Saturday. The move is in an effort to crack down on non-sanctioned belief systems, such as Atheism.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/01/12/21-year-old-atheist-prison/
This is a dangerous man. For some reason, he feels safe in boasting of an illegal and dangerous assault. He doesn't think he needs to conceal the fact. Sociopaths behave this way.
ReplyDeleteIf the guy actually hit the kid in the heart as hard as he claims, it seems like he could have stopped the boys heart.
ReplyDeleteI hope that the kids parents are in the audience and just realized what happened, and turn this guy into the police
It's so frightening that any parent would leave their child in the presence of these so called "religious leaders" unsupervised. These aren't teachers, who have been carefully vetted by their school districts, and even then still make mistakes in the handling of their charges, these are completely un-vetted people who believe imaginary beings, no less, being allowed to be in contact with innocent children unsupervised. Just look at what the catholic priests are still allowed to do to their young charges, unsupervised. Any parent that lets a child attend a religious service or church activity unsupervised is putting their child in a dangerous situation.
ReplyDeleteHe's a man of the cloth, at least that was the Roman Catholic excuse we got growing up.
DeleteHe is a 'the beatings will continue until moral improves' type of cretin.
ReplyDeleteEric Damman shoudl be charged with attempted murder or, at best, child abuse or child enangerment if ther eis any evidence this actually happened, which is doubtful as he seems like just another lying, bullying, blowhard braggart.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commotio_cordis
How many brownie points does one get for hitting an abuser in the head with an aluminum bat? I'm usually not a violent person, but this scum hides behind the cloak of religion and justifies punching a kid?
ReplyDelete