The World Council of Churches formally rejected corporal punishment in 2011

Evidence

The World Council of Churches — the Geneva-based ecumenical body representing approximately five hundred fifty million Christians across three hundred forty-nine member churches — issued a formal statement on violence against children in 2011 that addressed corporal punishment directly. The WCC called on its member churches to examine their own practices and teachings in light of both the scientific evidence on harm and the theological case for child dignity, and to develop positive-discipline alternatives rooted in Christian understandings of love and the imago Dei. This was not a marginal document from a liberal denomination. It was the formal position of the ecumenical body that represents the broadest institutional expression of global Christianity outside Roman Catholicism. When the ecumenical council of five hundred fifty million Christians formally states that the theological case against corporal punishment is strong, the argument that Christianity requires the rod has been answered from within Christianity. — , The Rod and the Child, 8185

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth checking whether the WCC statement and the Roman Catholic position on corporal punishment diverged — the passage carves Rome out.
• XREF: connects to: Contemporary Christian denominations are shifting away from corporal correction — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 2788; The UN child-rights committee declared all corporal punishment incompatible with the Convention — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 7595; Authoritative religious institutions have already adopted official anti-corporal-punishment positions — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 8212

Related

• The UN child-rights committee declared all corporal punishment incompatible with the Convention (similarity 0.87)
• Authoritative religious institutions have already adopted official anti-corporal-punishment positions (similarity 0.86)
• Contemporary Christian denominations are shifting away from corporal correction (similarity 0.84)
• Anti-corporal-punishment movements emerged independently within each religious tradition (similarity 0.82)
• Religious traditions framed child corporal punishment as love, not violence (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Authoritative religious institutions have already adopted official anti-corporal-punishment positions #exemplifies (0.85) — , The Rod and the Child, 8212