Hosea Ballou Quotes
That kind of discipline whose pungent severity is in the manifestations of paternal love, compassion, and tenderness is the most sure of its object.
Ballou, Hosea. Quoted in Ballou, Maturin Murray. Treasury of Thought: Forming an Encyclopædia of Quotations from Ancient and Modern Authors. James R. Osgood and Co., 1872.
Most Indian treaties were “negotiated” with the implicit or explicit threat of force against the Indians.
There are a number of reasons for punishing someone for violating a law. Confucius argues that when the person will no longer continue to commit the crime, further punishment is uncalled for. However, others would argue that there are other reasons to keep punishing a person including retribution / vengeance, incapacitation (people can’t commit crimes if they are in jail), and prevention (make an example to discourage others).
This quotation has caused a great deal of conflict between some parents and local governments. In many states, beating a child with a “rod” of other implement is a crime—often a felony. Religious fundamentalist parents insist on their right to bring up their children in accordance with “God’s law”. In American society generally, we have decided that children’s safety and rights trumps the Bible where there are conflicts. Spanking with an open hand in moderate amounts is generally considered legal although most child development experts counsel against it as it models a resort to violence and tends to culturally perpetuate itself over generations. See {642236} and {642235}.
Hosea Ballou D.D. was an American Universalist clergyman and theological writer.
