Chapter 3 delves into the psychological impact of severe corporal punishment that many prominent conservative Christian religious leaders experienced when they were children. Biblical literalists base these corporal punishments on various scriptural passages, and they also are inspired by the childrearing manual written by Susanna Wesley, mother of Methodism’s founder, John Wesley. It instructed parents to use whippings and other forms of child-beating (beginning when they were toddlers) in order to break their wills as preparation for receiving religious education. Using techniques, however, that caused pain to terrorized children had lifelong, debilitating consequences for their adult lives, predisposing them to an array of physiological, psychological, social, and medical problems. Along these lines, the Children of God’s founder, David Berg, suffered intense corrective beatings as a child, coupled with several instances of sexual humiliation around masturbation and childhood sexual exploration. As an adult, the doctrinal positions that he imposed upon the group continued advocacy of child beatings at the same time that they sanctified antinomian sexuality, which was a reaction against his debilitating feelings of childhood sexual guilt and rage.