A seven-year-old boy covered in bloody bruises and a 10-year-old with an open wound on his stomach are among 41 children who have been placed in foster care

An Atlanta judge, Sanford Jones, has ordered that the children to be held for up to a year during a hearing into practices at the 130-member non-denominational House of Prayer, led by the Rev Arthur Allen.

The 68-year-old pastor has publicly condoned whipping unruly children, saying it is in the Bible, and is accused of presiding over sessions where children were held by their arms and legs and whipped by several adults with belts and switches.

Police have charged him and six members of his church with inflicting or allowing excessive beatings. Allen was jailed in 1993 for 30 days for child abuse for ordering a church member to beat her teenage daughter.

He is also accused of forcing girls to marry after they reach 14.

Two of the 41 children in care are teenage sisters who Allen says are married, one with a child who is also in foster care.

The judge said he considered the church to be a cult that was placing children in jeopardy and exposing them to danger.

Meanwhile the parents of the children, who range in age from several months to 17 years, admit to the beatings and arranged marriages, saying they were just following the Bible.

They argue that the government had no business telling them how to discipline their children.

Parents of nine of the children were told they could have custody if they agreed not to allow their children to be beaten at church or married before age 16. The parents refused to comply.