Bombard CBS!!!! Especially ex-Pearlites!!!

[NewCovenantMama]

I wonder what would happen if as many people as possible who can give an informed opinion on Michael Pearl emailed and/or phoned CBS....

I'm in the UK, so I don't know how much clout my email will have, but I might email anyway and point out that MP has influences in other countries besides the USA.

The following might get CBS's attention:

- The fact that MP misrepresents what the Bible teaches, and that even most pro-spanking Christians would consider his teachings abusive - "This isn't a debate about spanking, it's about exposing blatant, cultlike child abuse."


- The cultlike aspects of NGJ - followers encouraged not to listen to critics. The way his followers say, "His teachings look harsh when you read them, but you have to see him in person ..." quite frankly reminds me of 1930s newsreel footage of Adolf Hitler's followers...

- The fact that he tells people to take the KJV at face value and accuses those who want to check original word meanings of scripture-twisting.

- Any examples you know of where MP takes scripture out of context even in English. This would help expose the ridiculousness of the above! It's also a powerful way both to warn other Christians about him, and to reach Pearl followers - "exit counsellors" who help rescue people from religious cults use this a lot if a person has respect for the Bible.

- His unorthodox ideas - no original sin, possible to live a life of "sinless perfection" in this life, the idea that children can't respond fully to the Gospel/receive God's forgiveness under age 13 or so (or whatever age it is he says), and of course the idea that the blood of Jesus is inadequate in itself to cleanse a child's heart from sin/guilt.

- The fact that he believes an unwhipped child can't feel forgiven and will suffer emotional problems caused by a sense of guilt. (Say "whipped", not "spanked" - most people's idea of a spanking isn't MP's.)

- Any contradictions you know of, eg the discrepancy between MP's folksy-fun manner and the fact that "trained" by his methods is anything but fun. Also, I've noticed that MP followers on forums tend to trot out the line, "You don't need any other parenting book than the Bible," then in the next sentence they recommend MP's book!

- Quotes about things like sitting on children, counting slowly, stopping mid-whipping to talk about how the whipping isn't over yet, following the child around the house laughing at his/her efforts to avoid the whipping, etc...

- The fact that he encourages older siblings to whip younger siblings.

- The fact that he says there is no upper limit to the number of "licks" a child may recieve (give quotes).

- Experiences of ex-Pearlites, explaining the effect following these teachings had on your family. Also how you came to realise how anti-scriptural and wrong his teachings are.

- Links to blog articles by people who knew the Schatzes, especially pointing out that, despite the abuse they were suffering, the children seemed happy, sociable and creative - attributes MP says are a sign that a child isn't being abused.

- The almost unbelievably insensitive statement the Pearls have issued, laughing at those who would cite his teachings as being instrumental in little Lydia's death.


(Edited to add that if you write in bullet points it's more likely to be read all the way through. Also, both beginning and ending on an attention-getter can be very effective.)

Edited again to remove a sentence I wasn't happy with, and to add don't forget that he talks about "training" a precociously mobile 4 month old baby to keep away from the stairs by making him too terrified to approach the "switch" left on the bottom step. (I know it's been cancelled now, but it might still be worth contacting them to ask if they are going to investigate these abuses).

[Hermana Linda]

Thank you for this.

May I repost it to http://whynottrainachild.com?

---------- Post added at 07:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:27 AM ----------

Oh, do you have the contact info for CBS handy?

[NewCovenantMama]

Please do!! . Stick it on Facebook, tweet it... lets go "viral" with it!

Emma

[Hermana Linda]

Great! Shall I credit you as Emma?

[TenderLovingWillow]

I need contact info.. I wonder if you can google that...

Off to try..

This could be a God thing.. Something to expose him for what he truely is..

[Hermana Linda]

Jennie,

[FlyingBlueKiwi]

The Executive Producer of the Early Show is David Friedman.

Here is a link to the Early Show

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/feedba...ews_form.shtml

They are also on FB

http://www.facebook.com/theearlyshow

[saturnfire16]

I think finding quotes from his book to send CBS would be great! I would love to see the interviewer ask him "So, what exactly did you mean when you said....." And when he tries to defend himself say "but your book says right here......"

ETA:

I emailed them!

[jenny_islander]

Quote, quote, quote--with page number and edition.

Remember to use restraint in your own writing. Lots of exclamation points and caps can work in informal settings, but if you are trying to get a producer's attention, you have to come across as calm.

[rosesnsnails]

Wasn't the show today?

[Johns_Gal]

TOmorrow.

I really do have a good feeling about it though.

[mrsd]

I sent an email to CBS about Michael Pearls teachings and my objections to his "methods"

[BluegrassMama]

Delurking to share the email I just sent:

Dear Early Show Team,

I am a Christian homeschooler and I have been familiar with Mike and Debi Pearl and their ministry for almost ten years. I am very concerned that you are having Mr. Pearl as a guest on the early show tomorrow morning, and I do hope you know the background of this man and his ministry.

His ministry, No Greater Joy, is very influential among Christian homeschoolers. Outside of that community, I believe it is easy for people to see that his teachings are not consistent with Christianity. Also, it is fairly obvious that his parenting advice is abusive or at least potentially abusive, and totally without regard to learned knowledge about child development. Within the homeschool community, young parents seem to be very drawn to the Pearls. They seem to be "folksy" and wise in an era during which good mentors for parents can be hard to find. Also, Mr. Pearl's inflated rhetoric about his methods being the only "godly" way to parent (and guaranteed to bring about perfect obedience in children) seem to be irresistible to some young parents.

Many veteran Christian homeschoolers (such as myself) have been speaking out against the Pearls for years. Some of us have tried their methods in our own homes, only to realize that we had been deceived and were at real risk of abusing our own precious children. Some of us were anti-spanking from the beginning, and frankly appalled that anyone who advocates beating children with a 1/4 inch plumbing supply line would be able to gain any type of platform for his message within the homeschool community. We've been very active in recent weeks, spreading the word about the death of Lydia Schatz and reminding homeschoolers of the death of Sean Paddock four years ago. His adoptive mother was also a Pearl devotee.

This is a complex issue.

I fear that a short segment on the Early Show will only cement Mr. Pearl's prominence in the mind of his followers. To them, he will appear patriarchal and wise, and the interviewer (who will likely be female, in a business suit, expensive haircut, and lots of makeup) will seem secular and worldly and therefore not worth heeding. Pearl has brought his followers along to see male and female roles in a very black-and-white manner. He is absolutely the male archetype, and his wife and daughters are the female. He surely knows that he will be able to maintain his role, and the cast of the Early Show will not "fit" his prescribed mold. Therefore, if the questioning takes a hard line and the connections between his teachings and the death of Lydia Schatz are made manifest, his followers will believe Pearl if he tells them that he has endured "godly persecution" on the Early Show. It may make things worse.

Also, I fear that Christian homeschoolers will all be tarred with the same brush on the Early Show. Many, many of us do not agree with Michael Pearl and are extremely unhappy to find him in our ranks. Please do not present him as representative of the rest of us. I, personally, spend an inordinate amount of time distancing myself from the stereotypes surrounding Christian homeschoolers. My children are not hit with plumbing supply line, or sheltered from the rest of the world, or made to endure any of the other negatives that Michael Pearl recommends. We are just regular American citizens, active in our community, simply preferring to educate our children at home.

I apologize for the length of this email. I don't know how much research you have done about Mr. Pearl and I just wanted to give you some background and share my concerns. This is what I ask of your show:

1. Please visit www.tulipgirl.com for a very long list of conservative Christian homeschoolers (parents, authors, speakers, pastors) who have spoken out against Michael Pearl. Please, please use this list in your segment. Also at www.tulipgirl.com you can quickly get the nutshell version of Mr. Pearl's teachings, and the reaction of many homeschoolers to the murder of Lydia Schatz.

2. Please do not lump all Christian homeschoolers in the same camp. Any association between homeschooling and people like Mr. Pearl makes me fearful about retaining my freedom to responsibly and lovingly educate my children at home. Without extreme care, the media can inadvertently perpetuate a stereotype that is very harmful to good people. America needs to hear that normal and rational Christians oppose Mr. Pearl's abusive and dangerous parenting methods.

3. Please do not make the issue about "spanking" vs. not spanking. Certainly I agree with the wisdom of our era concerning spanking. It is demeaning and harmful to children, and not necessary or biblical. However, many churchgoing people, whether homeschoolers or not, do still believe that they have a right to spank their children. If you set up (or allow) a paradigm in which Mr. Pearl represents "biblical chastisement" (his phrase) and "the secular world" represents nonspanking, then people who believe in spanking their children will automatically and instantly be on his side no matter what else comes to light. Believe me, I have seen this many times. The way to handle this would be to keep the focus on the abuse (the consistent beating with 1/4 plumbing supply line, for example). Don't let the word "spanking" or the term "biblical chastisement" be euphemisms for abuse. Call it by name.

Thank you very much for your time. I will be praying about tomorrow's show.

(My Name and Phone Number)

[SortaCrunchy]

WOW, Amy! I got chills reading this. SO well-informed, eloquent, and powerful. Great, great stuff.

[SortaCrunchy]

I just called the show.

I really thought I would just be sent to a voice mail inbox somewhere in the depths of CBS News but I got to talk to a real, live person who was very kind and interested in hearing my comments on the Michael Pearl segment.

I explained that I and many Christian parents are deeply concerned and alarmed that he is being featured on The Early Show tomorrow and that I wanted to make clear that the vast majority of Christian parents have never heard of him, and that those who have are (for the most part) horrified by his teaching and "advice." I said some more stuff that I can't remember right at this moment.

After my initial discussion to the young woman who answered, she asked me to hold and then came back on to get my contact info and asked me to repeat my concerns so she could make sure to get the information to disperse. (To whom, I don't know . . .) She asked me to follow-up with an email restating my concerns.

I have huge phone phobia issues and VERY rarely call on things like this, but I am glad I did.

Here is the contact info I used: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/...in509333.shtml