A Dane County judge on Thursday denied a motion to dismiss charges against a Black Earth pastor convicted of conspiracy to commit child abuse for advocating the use of wooden rods to spank children as young as 2 months old.
Philip Caminiti, 55, pastor of the Aleitheia Bible Church, was convicted in March of eight counts of conspiracy to commit child abuse for instructing church members to punish children by hitting them on the bare buttocks with wooden dowels to teach them to behave correctly, in keeping with the church's literal interpretation of the Bible. The motion to dismiss the charges alleged Caminiti had been deprived of his constitutional right to religious freedom. Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi found that Caminiti had "a sincerely held religious belief" as a Christian fundamentalist that requires using a rod to discipline children beginning at a young age... |