Here's another story from last year stating that the pastor and others had been charged with multiple counts of actual child abuse: http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/26/members-of-aleitheia-bible-church-in-wisco nsin-charged-with-abus/
_____ From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Volokh, Eugene Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2012 4:10 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Minister convicted for teaching parishioners "to punish children byhitting them on the bare buttocks with wooden dowels" I would think that such a conviction would likely be unconstitutional under the Free Speech Clause, given Brandenburg v. Ohio, even without regard to any special religious freedom claim (note that Wisconsin courts read the Wisconsin Constitution following Sherbert/Yoder). It seems to me that teaching parishioners the propriety of such conduct - even illegal conduct - doesn't fit within the Brandenburg exception, because it isn't intended to yield imminent lawless conduct; and I don't think the general teachings would fit within the United States v. Williams solicitation exception, since no specific act is being discussed. On the other hand, it's possible that pastoral counseling of a specific parent, telling the parent to engage in illegal child abuse (assuming the discipline is indeed illegal) might qualify as solicitation of crime and not just abstract advocacy. Or is this analysis mistaken? Relatedly, could ministers of churches that teach that marijuana is a sacrament be prosecuted for conspiracy to engage in criminal possession or receipt of marijuana? Could imams who preach the propriety of jihad be prosecuted for conspiracy to engage in jihad, just based on the teaching alone? Eugene http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/motion-to-dismiss-ch arges-against-black-earth-pastor-denied/article_3c17db6a-9b01-11e1-967a-001a 4bcf887a.html A Dane County judge on Thursday denied a motion to dismiss charges against a Black Earth pastor convicted of conspiracy to commit child abuse for advocating the use of wooden rods to spank children as young as 2 months old. Philip Caminiti, 55, pastor of the Aleitheia Bible Church, was convicted in March of eight counts of conspiracy to commit child abuse for instructing church members to punish children by hitting them on the bare buttocks with wooden dowels to teach them to behave correctly, in keeping with the church's literal interpretation of the Bible. The motion to dismiss the charges alleged Caminiti had been deprived of his constitutional right to religious freedom. Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi found that Caminiti had "a sincerely held religious belief" as a Christian fundamentalist that requires using a rod to discipline children beginning at a young age. But Sumi said Caminiti failed to show the state's child abuse statute "places a burden on his sincerely held religious belief." "Scripture doesn't specify how and when the rod should be used," Sumi said, adding that Caminiti also was willing to modify the church's practices to comply with the law....
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