Statists Want to Force Priests to Reveal Confessions

The New American ^ | Monday, 29 August 2011 | Selwyn Duke

[Paladins Prayer]

First there were efforts to compel Catholic hospitals to perform abortions. Now statists in some nations want to force priests to violate the confidentiality of confession for, ostensibly, the purpose of uncovering sexual abuse.

...This is, of course, just common sense. Would a person really violate Catholic teaching by committing heinous sex crimes but yet feel a compulsion to abide by the teaching prescribing confession? It’s like thinking that someone could be willing to rob a bank but unwilling to violate gun laws as is necessary to obtain the tools for the crime.

Thus, because of sex abusers’ de facto irreligiosity it seems that, if they revealed their crimes anywhere, it would more likely be on a therapist’s couch than in a confessional. Yet, again, the former isn’t the focus of the statists.

It’s ironic that those who claim to believe strongly in a wall of separation between church and state would demand the destruction of that wall when it prevents their peering into the Church’s domain. More ironic still is that these statists have turned the only reasonable conception of the separation principle — that promulgated by Thomas Jefferson — on its head. As to this, the idea was not to keep religion out of government, but government out of religion. Yet statists today increasingly demand just the opposite.

[Paladins Prayer]

The war on Christianity strikes again.

[Vaquero]

these Christian hating scum, are the same scum that want Sharia Law implemented so that ‘Accchhhhmed’ can beat and/or kill his wife or daughter for showing a little ankle....under the protection of the newly minted “honor killing “ clause in the constitution (based on the 1st amendment...“respecting an establishment of religion,” ) which will only be interpreted by politically motivated jurists..

[Mrs. Don-o]

This is wrong for reasons #1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Moreover, there would not be any way to prove that a sex abuser confessed the sin of sex abuse, except by putting surveillance equipment in confessionals. If that's OK, you can wire all doctors' and attorneys' offices and all marital beds too.

This is dangerous and tyrannical nonsense.

[G Larry]

They can write all the laws they want.
Their oath to God is all that counts.

Nobody can charge or prove that the priest knew, especially given the probability of a “blind” confession. (Where the priest never views the face of the person)

[HIDEK6]

This should shake up the liberals in the Church.

"First they came for the holy-rollers, but i did nothing because I was not a holy-roller."

[hfr]

Just like the old way where one was immune and could not be forced to testify against their spouse. Just like the old way with confidentiality between doctor and patient. Just like confidentiality between attorney and client. All the substance of human relationships is wiped away in the face of the brave new world of tyranny we are looking out upon today. It should come as no surprise that if those relationships are not sacred, that that relationship with a priest in not thought sacred either. There is no fear of God in their eyes.

[AmericaUnite]

Bump

[Buckeye McFrog]

or at the very least, the Liberal Elite sure does have it in for the Catholic Church.

Priests will have to be prepared to go to jail rather than break the seal of confession. We will then probably be running neck-and-neck with the ChiComs in having the largest number of priests locked up.

[Cheburashka]

Very few child molesters will seek absolution in the confessional, since they generally do not see it as a crime. They usually believe that the children seek and want their sexual contact and that such contact is a good thing.

For the few that might, confession is anonymous, so if the priest does not know who the penitent is, how can they “squeal” on the right party?

How would the government know that the child molester confessed? Only by admission by one of the two parties to the confession, or by bugging the confessional.

Of course, there is always the possibility of provocations, false confessions by, oh, the media, gays, abortionists and their supporters, generally anyone who hates the Catholic church and would want to set up one of its priests for criminal accusations. Until such fraudulent confessions reach the courts it is difficult to know if they would actually result in convictions. I kind of doubt it, but who can know for sure?

Of course, one might note that this is only the first step, the next would be laws that require priests to report any criminal activity that is confessed to.