Indiana Woman Accused Of Beating Child With Coat Hanger Says State’s Religious Liberty Law Allows It

An Indiana woman who allegedly beat her son with a plastic coat hanger is fighting felony child abuse charges by claiming that Indiana’s controversial religious liberty law allows her to punish her children in accordance with her Christian beliefs.

As The Indianapolis Star reports, 30-year-old Kin Park Thaing does not deny beating her seven-year-old son 36 times with a plastic coat hanger on February 3, severely bruising him in the process. Thaing says that her son was doing something – it’s not clear what – that would have jeopardized the safety of both him and his three-year-old sister. She beat both children with a coat hanger, and then prayed with them.

“I was worried for my son’s salvation with God after he dies. I decided to punish my son to prevent him from hurting my daughter and to help him learn how to behave as God would want him to.”

A couple of days later, when the boy was at school, he flinched as a teacher tried to pat him on the back. When the teacher observed the horrific bruising on the boy’s back, child protection authorities were called in.

The Indiana mom maintains that the Bible justifies her actions; specifically, the oft-cited verse that claims if you “spare the rod, you spoil the child.”

“Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them. Psalm 13:24.”

Whether or not that passage of scripture justifies beating a child to the point of bruising is a matter for theologians to decide, but Thaing’s interpretation of it appears to run afoul of Indiana’s child abuse laws. Although Indiana generally allows parents to punish their children with paddles, belts, or even electrical cords, authorities tend to draw the line when there’s bruising, says Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Matt Savage.

Thaing, through her attorney, is having none of that. She maintains that Indiana’s religious liberty law allows her to beat her children to the point of bruising because she is following the Bible, according to CBS News.

Specifically, Indiana’s controversial law, officially called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2015, says that the state cannot intrude upon a person’s religious liberty unless the state has a compelling interest to do so. Even then, it must be done in the least intrusive way possible. The law has been used to justify such things as, for example, allowing a baker to refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding.

However, this may be the first time the law has been invoked in a child abuse case.There is also a cultural component to Thaing’s case. Thaing is a refugee from Burma (alternately known as Myanmar), and she brought her Burmese culture to Indiana with her, especially when it comes to child-rearing. As Elaisa Vahnie, executive director of the Burmese American Community Institute, explains, while beating a child to the point of bruising is considered child abuse in Indiana, in Burma it’s considered conscientious parenting.

“It’s a matter of cultural practice. Sometimes you use a stick to correct them (in Burma). That’s very normal.”

How the religious, cultural, and legal implications in Thaing’s case play out will be up to a jury to decide, and she is scheduled for trial on October 19.

Do you believe that the Bible compels parents to beat their children to the point of bruising and that it’s protected under Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act?

[Image via Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department]