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

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• African American
• Black
• child abuse
• church
• CNN
• Creflo Dollar
• mega-church
• qualitative
• religion

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Erratum

Notes

1 The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) (42 U.S.C.A. § 5106g), as amended by the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010, defines child abuse and neglect as, at minimum: (1) “Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation”; or (2) “An act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.”

2 The terms “African American” and “Black” will be used interchangeably in this manuscript.

3 On 8 June 2012, Dr Creflo Dollar was arrested after an altercation with his 15-year-old daughter. According to the daughter of Dollar, following an argument with her father, he choked her, slammed her to the ground, punched her, and beat her with his shoe. Dollar was later arrested on charges of simple battery, family violence, and child cruelty.

4

As a father I love my children and I always have their best interest at heart at all times, and I would never use my hand to ever cause bodily harm to my children. The facts in this case will be handled privately to further protect my children. My family thanks you for your prayers and continued support. (Creflo Dollar, In a statement released to the media from his attorney).

5 Founded as a non-denominational church in College Park, Georgia, World Changers Church International extends to over 20 satellite churches across the nation. The diverse international church reaches individuals from Australia (the Asian-Pacific region), the United Kingdom, Canada, India, the Ukraine and South Africa, and the majority of congregants identify as having Black or African American heritage.

6 Domestically, CNN reaches more individuals on television, the web, and mobile devices than any other cable TV news organisation in the USA; internationally, CNN is the most widely distributed news channel reaching more than 287 million households abroad; and CNN Digital is a top network for online news, mobile news, and social media (2011).