Motion Denied in the Hana Alemu “Williams” Case

The Skagit Valley Herald reports that a Motion was denied to suppress investigative photos in Hana Williams death case.  The Williams did not give poor Hana any rights to privacy while she was alive and now they claim to want to protect her privacy.  It looks to me like it’s really themselves they want to…

Read More

Christianity Today Article on Corporal Punishment

Christianity Today Magazine has an article about Corporal Punishment in their January 2012 Issue which you might want to purchase.  When and if they post it online, I will post a link to it.  This article mentions Hana Alemu “Williams”,  Lydia Schatz and Sean Paddock and the influence of To Train Up A Child by…

Read More

An Interview with Elizabeth Esther

BlogHer Network Interviews Elizabeth Esther about her appearance with Michael Pearl on Anderson Cooper’s daytime Talk Show today (Monday for Los Angeles Viewers). Many bloggers are promoting this episode: Elizabeth Esther Faces Michael Pearl On Anderson by Free By His Grace Keeping Up with Michael Pearl: Interview on Anderson (Cooper’s) Talk Show TODAY (and Pearl’s…

Read More

Hana and The Pearls in The Seattle Times

Jeff Hodson of the Seattle Times provides extensive coverage of the death of Hana Alemu “Williams” as well as the Pearls’ teachings in Did Hana’s parents ‘train’ her to death?  I am grateful to see  this blog mentioned and linked to  in this article.  Letters to the editor regarding that article are here.

Read More

The National Post Article on The Pearls

Samuel Martin has sent out the following request asking us to check out and respond to this article in the National Post.  He gives a different link to the same story, but my link has photos and lives links. Dear friends, Best wishes from Jerusalem. I would like to ask all of my friends, especially…

Read More

The Pearls Remain In The News

Lisa Belkin of The Huffington Post asks, Can Adoption Lead to Child Abuse? Elizabeth Esther explains why we should hold the Pearls accountable for their teachings in Are the Pearls to blame for child spanking deaths? Clay Duda of the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange takes a look at the history of corporeal punishment in Spanking at…

Read More

Discussing Pearl on “The View” and NY Times Story Spawns

ABC News has a story called Child’s Death Raises Questions About Biblical Disciplinary Teachings which includes testimony of someone who was raised under Pearls’ teachings and how it affected her under  a video of the discussion of Pearls’ teachings on the View. The NY Times story has spawned many blog posts and articles. Most of…

Read More

New York Times on The Pearls

Erik Eckholm of The New York Times has written a well researched and carefully balanced article about the Pearls called Preaching Virtue of Spanking, Even as Deaths Fuel Debate.  Unfortunately, in his effort to be balanced, he really didn’t warn against the Pearls’ teachings at all. The comments are many and one of them links…

Read More

Testimony: Why Pearl’s Methods Are Dangerous

An anonymous writer explains how she used to follow Pearls teachings to the letter and exactly how and why they are dangerous in  Corpses Don’t Rebel: A former follower of Michael Pearl’s “To Train Up A Child” reacts to the death of Hana Williams. Deb of The Wartburg Watch posts about exposing Pearl’s teachings as…

Read More

Analyzing Carri Williams

Many have wondered why Carri Williams adopted Hana only to abuse her to death.  Someone with a little inside knowledge has speculated on the reasons and has graciously given me permission to share with my readers. Here’s my take on why the Williams family chose to adopt–first of all, I think Carri’s main role in…

Read More

Hana “Williams” Story on CNN

Gary Tuchman of CNN covers the case of Hana Alemu (legally Hana Williams as she was adopted by Larry and Carri Williams) on A360 in Ungodly Discipline. They plan to look closer at the book, To Train Up A Child by Michael and Debi Pearl. The next day they featured an interview with Michael Pearl.  …

Read More

Hana Fund

Here is an article from ZenaEthiopia about Hana and the fund which has been started to help make sure that nothing like this ever happens again:  Ethiopian Community Mutual Association of Seattle Announces Hana Fund.

Read More

Statement from Hana’s Adoption Agency

AAI, Hana’s Adoption Agency, has sent the following Letter to its adoptive families: Dear Adoptive Family, Everyone at AAI is shocked and saddened by the tragic death of Hana, a 13 year old from Ethiopia who had been with her adoptive family for three years. She passed away in May and, after several months of…

Read More

Christianity Today Looks at TTUAC

Rachel Stone of Christianity Today takes a close look at To Train Up A Child  in When Child Discipline Becomes Abuse.  I notice that she linked to my blog which I much appreciate.  She obviously read TTUAC with a critical eye and really “gets it.”

Read More

Professors and Scholars Speak Out Against Pearl

Megan Graham  of  The Daily Illini (Independent Student Newspaper of the University of Illinois) looks at To Train Up A Child and its influence as well as the issue of Free Speech in Parenting book missing childlike innocence. Prof. William Webb (Author of the new book Corporal Punishment In The Bible) explains that The Pearls’…

Read More

Carri Williams’ 911 Call Released

Komo News reports on the 911 call that Carri Williams made to report Hana’s death in Charged mother of dead teen: ‘ I think my daughter killed herself‘.  See link for video.  Story pasted below for permanence. SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. — Hana Williams died of hypothermia after she was starved and abused, according to the Skagit…

Read More

More Thoughts About Hana Williams

Kathy Cassel of Cassel Crew explains her concerns with To Train Up A Child in (How Not) To Train Up a Child.  Note that she does believe in spanking but more as a last resort than as a first and/or only tool. Professor Curtis Hutt of the University of Nebraska shares his view concerning the…

Read More

More Responses to The Pearls

TulipGirl responds to Michael Pearl’s Response to the death of Hanna Williams in When Friends Defend The Pearls. In her response she links to another response which I had missed from Free By His Grace. The Sugar Mountain has an impassioned response to the Pearls’ teachings about the rod in Tragedy of the Rod (a…

Read More

Pearl’s Official Response to Hana’s Death

Michael Pearl  has released an official statement on the tragic death of Hannah Williams on his No Greater Joy Facebook Page.  This time he is not laughing.  He explains that he tells parents not to abuse and gives some quotes to back that up.  He didn’t even quote where he said not to use punishment…

Read More

The Williams Plead Not Guilty

This has hit the news big time, I will share a few of the stories here for you. King 5 News aka NWCN.com has posted the following news article which I will copy here for permanence Skagit County couple pleads not guilty in death of adopted daughter by KING 5 News NWCN.com Posted on October…

Read More

Reactions to Hana Williams story

Here are some reactions to the “Hana Williams” story from around the internet.  All of these links consider the link between To Train Up A Child and Hanna’s death. Note: I just found out from a friend of her’s from Ethiopia that her real name is Hanna Beck. eta: word from Ethiopia is that her…

Read More

TTUAC linked to Hana Williams’ Death

Fox News has connected the dots and has implicated the book, To Train Up A Child in it’s coverage of Hana Grace’s Death in its article, Book advocating extreme discipline may be connected to deaths of adopted children. (eta: this link has been removed from the Fox News website so I am linking to the…

Read More

The Williams Arrested For The Death of Hana Grace

We have been following the story of Hana Grace Williams who was found dead outside her home last May.  The only reason this story is of interest to this blog is that the Williams were known to be following The Pearls’ teachings with their children before they adopted Hana and her brother in 2008.  Any…

Read More

The Hana Williams Story

Non-Profit Radio KUOW aired a piece of the death of Hana Williams, here is the transcript and a link to download the story. Transcript also at https://www.facebook.com/groups/156422897766042/doc/175047785903553/

Read More

Why Blame The Pearls At All? – Part 2

Yesterday I looked at the question of what the Pearls’ teachings had to do with the death of Lydia Schatz. Today I will look at the deaths of Sean Paddock and Hana Williams.  Lydia died as a direct result of her parents  following the Pearls’ teachings, but that was not the case with Sean and…

Read More

More about Hana Grace Williams

You may recall me posting about Hana Grace Williams earlier this month.  In that post I mentioned that I had heard murmurings on the internet that her parents were Pearl followers.  Well, someone has emailed me to confirm that rumor.  Well, confirm might be too strong a word for a fairly anonymous email, but I don’t…

Read More

New Site: “No Greater Joy?”

beatenwithplumbingline has just started a new blog called, No Greater Joy?   The first, and so far only, post shows how the Pearls’ teachings violate Matthew 18:2-6.  (Note, this site has since been deleted)  This post also states the purpose of the new blog which is. …to warn parents, pastors, and law enforcement of the dangerous…

Read More