...and I don't mean the shirt.
Just recently the Mexican government has launched an awareness campaign against domestic violence. For decades, women have suffered in practical silence while their husbands struck them and even beat them for offenses real and imagined. Currently, there are several public service announcements in television, print and radio media encouraging women to report domestic violence and not be afraid.
I am an outsider, so I have to be careful about how I phrase certain admonitions and rebukes. However, this is one of those issues that despite the social tolerance it has enjoyed for decades, I cannot in good conscience allow people to continue thinking that domestic violence is the norm. Sadly, this practice of striking women exists in the church as well as outside of it. That is not to say that it is present in all families. However, it does exist.
Socially acceptable or not, I refuse to wink at this practice. As long as I am able, I will continue to hold at arms length all of those men who think that they are entitled to strike their wives whether in anger or discipline. They will not be afforded the same rights and priviliges to participate as the rest of the congregation until they demonstrate a repentant attitude regarding their misbehavior.