American Indians thought Europeans were strange because they hit their children.
http://www.history.org/almanack/life/family/first.cfm
That should've been their first sign to get the Heck out of town, since they were invaded by people who are NUTZ!!! :)
Someone mentioned above how the Bible condones beating a slave for discipline. The actual rule is found in Exodus 21:20, and is pretty complicated:
21:20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.
21:21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.
21:24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
21:25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
21:26 And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.
21:27 And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.
So the master has to be careful not to cause slave to lose an eye or tooth, since the slave owner then must set him free, suffering the economic harm.
Also, the slave owner has to be careful not to beat slave to death, for that's considered manslaughter. However, the law acknowledges that if the slave is beaten and manages to hang on to dear life for a "day or two", then the master is NOT charged with manslaughter and is off the hook, since they get the presumption of innocence that the slave MAY have died from ANOTHER cause (eg they died of "old age" a day later: the beating had NOTHING to do with it. Just a coincidence, folks; move along...). Besides, the loss of the slave as property at the master's own hand was considered punishment enough ("for (the slave) is golden, worth some $$"). .
So I can see it now: the slave is jumping around to try and align the blows of the master's rod to knock out a tooth or eye and gain his freedom, but the master is trying to land blows on fleshy areas. And if the slave is beaten unconscious, the master suddenly must administer CPR sufficient to at least keep the slave alive for a day or two to avoid manslaughter charges.
So there's your Biblical morality in action, folks: has any believer who says, "YHWH is the moral law-giver" even bothered to actually READ any of this stuff?