NJ pastor apologizes for punching child to teach a religious lesson

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, N.J. (WPVI) -- A Baptist pastor from New Jersey is facing backlash after he was caught on video explaining how he punched a child to teach him a religious lesson.

"He was just trying to push my buttons and he was just, you know, kind of not taking the Lord serious. And I walked over to him and I went 'BAM'. I punched him as hard as I could in the chest. I crumbled the kid."

"I crumbled him. And I said, I leaned over and I said 'Ben, when are you going to stop playing games with God?" said Pastor Eric Dammann from the the Bible Baptist Church in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey.

He told a newspaper that this story he told was taken out of context.

Dammann says he does not endorse child abuse or the punching of children and that the viral clip does not show the whole sermon, where he says what he did was wrong.