Have you ever been spanked, paddled, whipped, or thrashed by a religious authority?
---NonFiction
Growing up in the 1970's in a small rural New Mexican town, children were frequently spanked by adults, or even older children, who were in authority over us. This often included spankings from those in religious authority over us... Sunday School Teachers, Elders/Deacons, Pastors, Nuns, Priests, Youth Group Leaders, Bible Study Leaders, etc.
For example... My church junior high school youth group had Bible Study on Wednesday evenings. On one occasion, one of my Bible Study leaders (Rachel, a senior in high school -- actually, one of the pastor's daughters) overheard me use naughty words in a very disrespectful context. She didn't say a word to me in front of the others. She very calmly, but very firmly and deliberately (somewhat slowly), escorted me by my earlobe down the hall to the chapel where paddlings and thrashings were administered. When we arrived, a young primary boy was receiving the ruler from his Bible Study leader. I received a very stern lecture and a VERY severe thrashing with the Junior-rod (a medium-long/medium-thick hickory switch). Rachel was normally the hottest, most fun-loving, and even slightly rebellious PK (pastor's kid) youth group leader, so I was amazed at her very calm-but-severe discipline... no anger, no raised voice... just very effective discipline! She actually reminded me of my dad, having me count each stroke of the Junior-rod out loud, and calmly scolding me between strokes (she administered 24 strokes VERY effectively). After my thrashing, she told me not to be embarassed, that she had recently been on the receiving end of a thrashing with the Senior-rod (a long-thick hickory rod), that she loved me, and that she wanted me to grow up to be a good Christian man. Before leaving the chapel, she prayed with me. By the time Rachel was done with me, another Bible Study leader had arrived with two elementary girls who were going to be disciplined with the Secondary-rod (a short-thin hickory switch).
In our church, it was a foregone conclusion that when boys and girls were taken to the chapel for corporal punishment, we would tell our parents that we had been punished, and why we had been punished. Therefore, on our ride home, I confessed my sin to my dad. Rachel had already filled him in, but he would have waited until I was in bed before confronting me, and the consequences for me not confessing would have been unthinkable! Shortly after arriving home, I found myself naked in the woodshed, draped over my dad's sawhorse, receiving my dad's razor strop across my 11-year-old buttocks! A whipping with dad's leather strop was reserved for only the most serious of offenses, and using foul language at church, within earshot of the pastor's daughter, definitely qualified! To this day, that combination of Rachel's hickory switch and my dad's strop is one of the worst/best ass-blisterings of my life!
Anyway, when I think about the punishments that I have received from religious authorities, I often wonder if others have had similar experiences?