Just when you thought we had hit rock bottom with religious fundamentalism in the United States, a Christian woman used a Taser to wake up her teenage son to go to church on Easter.

Sharron Dobbins of Arizona was arrested and charged with child abuse after she shocked her son in the leg with a stun gun to wake him up for “Jesus’ Day.” She claims she only tried to scare him with the device, but police say she went much further than that.

She didn’t help her case by telling the dispatcher, after her son called the cops, that the police officer needed to “be with Jesus”

“I said [to my son], ‘Get up! It’s Jesus’ Day!’” Dobbins told KNXV. … “He was like, ‘Mom, I’m calling the police.’ I said, ‘You can call the police, UPS, DPS, whoever you want to call,'” Dobbins told KNXV. “Police were on the phone and I told the dispatcher, I told her, ‘You need to be with Jesus right now.'”

Dobbins was charged with one count of child abuse with intent to cause harm, and she spent 12 hours in jail on Easter, but there’s no guarantee she won’t do something like this again. In fact, she has made it clear that she doesn’t understand that what she did was wrong, because she did it in the name of God.

“I don’t think I did anything wrong because you’re supposed to put God first and that’s all I was trying to do is tell my kids to put God first,” said Dobbins.

Someone needs to break it to her that abusing children is always wrong. Religion shouldn’t exempt anyone from criminal actions. And if a child only goes to church because his mother literally shocked him into it, what does that say about the religion? It’s a messed up faith that has to force people into attending worship services. What sort of God rewards those who praise Him only because they’re under threat?

(Image via Shutterstock)

