Roger Voegtlin is a powerful man, extremely influential in fundamentalist Baptist circles. 

 

 

 

I believe the Bible is the word of God. 

 

 

 

His Indiana church is called Fairhaven Baptist, and on the well-manicured grounds, there is also the Fairhaven Baptist Academy for children and Fairhaven College. Pastor Voegtlin has led thousands of children and their families for four decades. 

 

 

 

You've said children are born depraved. They're born liars. They have to be trained to be good. Do you still believe that? 

 

 

 

Yes. The Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. 

 

 

 

The Bible also says he who sparest the rod hated his son. 

 

 

 

My philosophy is three swats. It should sting but not hurt. 

 

 

 

It's not considered an unusual philosophy among some in the fundamentalist Baptist community. And corporal punishment does remain legal in many of the nation's schools.

 

 

 

But these former students are now speaking out, saying what they endured was beyond, way beyond, anything taught in the Bible. 

 

 

 

How many of you have had suicidal thoughts? That's every one of you. 

 

 

 

We constantly lived in fear of looking the wrong way, doing the wrong thing. 

 

 

 

We were brainwashed; our parents were brainwashed. And you followed what Roger Voegtlin said. 

 

 

 

These former students say Pastor Voegtlin did some of the hitting, but most of it was done by his staff. 

 

 

 

Alison Lavery was in grade school when she says the principal came into her class to paddle her. 

 

 

 

He would call you to the front. They'd have pulled a chair out. And bend over, grab the chair. He tells you, "Look at that lunch pail." And he would pull the paddle up. And he was so tall it practically touched the ceiling. And he would swing it really hard and hard enough for you to move forward. He'd move the whole chair forward. 

 

 

 

This is in front of the whole class? 

 

 

 

Yes. 

 

 

 

Jeremiah Souza was in seventh grade when he encountered a school administrator. 

 

 

 

He spanked me, and the paddle split down the middle. So he started back over, holding the paddle together. So whenever he would hit me, it would pinch the skin on my bottom and bruised and bleeding. Samuel Bain also was in grade school when he says he got it from a church maintenance man. 

 

 

 

He basically told me to bend over, and he said, "Pull down your pants." I looked; I kind of hesitated, because to me, it doesn't sound right, even to a kid. You know, we were taught not to question people. 

 

 

 

Then he did what? 

 

 

 

He laid into me. 

 

 

 

They say that not only were they hit when they were here, but it was done with great effort to humiliate them in front of whole class, belt them over a chair. Is that still done today, and do you think that's humiliation? 

 

 

 

Yes. It is still done today. And I suppose it is humiliation, but again, humiliation is not the big thing. 

 

 

 

But what I'm saying to you is God doesn't say anything about humiliation in the Bible. 

 

 

 

No. 

 

 

 

He does talk about sparing the rod. 

 

 

 

Yes. 

 

 

 

That is mentioned in the Bible. 

 

 

 

Yes. 

 

 

 

So why the humiliation? Why is that necessary? 

 

 

 

Habit. 

 

 

 

I'm a minister. I'm a preacher. I speak to youth. I speak to teenagers. 

 

 

 

Darcel McCoy is a proud Baptist who now lives in Alabama. He says during a student mission trip to Mexico 15 years ago, he was forced by a Fairhaven administrator to keep drinking liquids after he urinated in a shower. 

 

 

 

My stomach is literally out to about here, and I'm puking over and over, puking. And one of the, one of the men come up to me: "Don't you puke again. You better not puke." And I'm just puking everywhere, all over my clothes, all over people's stuff. 

 

 

 

They put, they put one of the older kids, one of the senior boys, and they put his stuff at my feet and said if you puke again this boy's going to beat the snot out of you. And so I'm trying hard not to puke. They made me do that until I peed on myself. 

 

 

 

 

 

I have never heard that story. Darcel was a lot of trouble when he was in school, but I'm not saying that he's totally lying about it. Because I don't know. I wasn't there. 

 

 

 

This was something you'll investigate? 

 

 

 

Yes, I will. 

 

 

 

It was a long time ago, but probably worth investigating?