How harmful are the teachings of Michael and Debi Pearl?

How harmful are the teachings of Michael and Debi Pearl?:

'via Blog this'The PVC tube may seem like a strange punishment tool, but for those familiar with the teachings of Christian fundamentalists and authors Michael and Debi Pearl, it is nothing new.

Earlier the Paradise Post reported

It was a lengthy article in Salon Magazine that led investigators to No Greater Joy Ministries, Ramsey said. The title of the article is ‘Spare the quarter-inch plumbing supply line, spoil the child.”

The article, written in 2006 by Lynn Harris, explores the Pearls’ methods. Though the Pearls were well-known in fundamentalist religious circles, they became more widely known when their methods were implicated in the death of a 4-year-old boy in North Carolina, as well as the alleged abuse of his two siblings. The mother, Lynn Paddock, reportedly followed the Pearls’ disciplinary methods. Her son’s death was caused by suffocation when she wrapped him tightly in blankets.

The Pearls do not advocate restraining with blankets anywhere in their teachings, however, the boy and two of his five siblings had welts caused by a “rod” recommended by the Pearls – a quarter-inch plumbing supply line.