Black Mega Churches: attitudes towards corporal punishment and perceived guilt or innocence

The allegation of child abuse against mega-church leader Creflo Dollar on 8 June 2012 has led many to evaluate the guilt or innocence of this religious leader. This case is especially interesting in that, in contrast to studies that have examined the sexual discretions of church leaders, this study...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Chaney, Cassandra (Author) ; Skipper, Antonius (Author) ; Harvey, Ashley (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor & Francis 2015
In: Mental health, religion & culture
Year: 2015, Volume: 18, Issue: 10, Pages: 859-872
Further subjects:B CNN
B Church
B Religion
B Erratum
B Black
B Creflo Dollar
B Qualitative
B African American
B Child Abuse
B mega-church
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:The allegation of child abuse against mega-church leader Creflo Dollar on 8 June 2012 has led many to evaluate the guilt or innocence of this religious leader. This case is especially interesting in that, in contrast to studies that have examined the sexual discretions of church leaders, this study examines the presumed innocence or guilt of Dollar's 15-year-old daughter (who he alleged choked) and the man at the centre of this debate. This study will examine over 3000 comments made by anonymous contributors on CNN's public website and analysed using a qualitative methodology. The following six themes were identified: (1) Condemnation of Mega-Churches and Mega-Church Leaders: "The love of money is the root of all evil"; (2) Condemnation of Creflo Dollar's Actions Against His Daughter: "He is a child beater"; (3) Condemnation of Religious Leaders: "Most priests are crooks"; (4) Condemnation of God and Religion: "God is not great and religion poisons everything"; (5) Support for Corporal Punishment: "Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child"; (6) Support for Creflo Dollar's Actions: "It sounds like the man of the house handled business!" Narratives will be offered to support and illustrate each of these themes, and the implications for the mental health of African Americans will be discussed.
ISSN:1469-9737
Contains:Enthalten in: Mental health, religion & culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13674676.2015.1082539