The rationalizations offered by pastor David Hemphill and the involved parent are surpassed in their absurdity only by the DA's reluctance to charge a crime. Had the child beaten and knocked down the parent at church, we'd hear a loud public clamor for swift, harsh punishment. That child would be hauled off to the county juvenile facility within the hour. But when the child is the victim, nobody knows what to do. Or seems to care.
Parental behavior is sacrosanct until a felony is committed.
We have to wait until the child is in the hospital or dead. Then the law, in all its majesty, swings into action. Everybody knows exactly what to do. I believe children must be afforded the same protections under law against being assaulted and battered that are taken for granted by every other class of citizen. Sidestep the issue of violent treatment of children, and everything that is said about the problems of youth in general, and violence in particular, is just hollow, self-serving rhetoric.