JESUS Christ told his disciples to 'suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of Heaven". In the Gospels, Christ speaks often of children, of his love for them, of how the innocence of childhood is symbolic of the kingdom of Heaven.

Christ represents forgiveness, pity, kindness, peace, mercy, love, turning the other cheek, loving thy neighbour. Whether you believe in him or not, the figure of Christ is one of all encompassing goodness. He is the embodiment of the golden rule that lies at the very heart of so many world cultures: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

It is hard, then, if not impossible, to imagine the Jesus of the New Testament nodding along in agreement with the Christian fundamentalists behind the Be Reasonable Scotland lobby - a group which opposes the planned smacking ban in Scotland and wants to ensure that parents can beat their children whenever they wish.

One would hope that people who claim to follow the teachings of Christ would at least try to walk in his footsteps. Christ was a revolutionary, a change-maker - this is the man, after all, who overthrew the tables of the money changers. One would imagine a true Christian would embrace progressive change, would seek to stand by the side of the weak.

For that is what the smacking ban is about: equal protection for the weakest citizens in our society under the law, our children; and Christ, as the bible teaches us, stood with the children.