'Will not sit idly by': DOJ sues to prevent Catholic priests from violating secrecy of confessional by having to report

[malthaussen]

56. You're ignoring the prior point.

If priests start reporting crimes they learned of in confession, then people will simply stop confessing crimes. Thus, demanding that priests violate the confessional will do absolutely nothing. I doubt you'd get many priests to go along with the State's law, either. It's a pretty fundamental principle of all religions that their god's law supersedes that of men. And it is a pretty fundamental law of the US that the State will not interfere with the activities of a church so long as they are reasonably orderly and lawful.

You also seem to disregard the fact that to demand this is to demand the priest commit what is a mortal sin within his own religion. You may or may not subscribe to that belief, but you have no right to tell someone else what he should believe. This is not of the same silly order as refusing to bake a cake for a LBTQ wedding. Confession, and the sanctity of the confession, is one of the seven major sacraments of the Catholic Church. To violate it is an attack on some of the foundations of that Church, with ramifications beyond the Confessional. It might be a good thing if the Catholic Church ceased to exist, but given that it poses no existential threat to the US, making war on it would seem to be not in our best interests, and would probably be unpopular with a significant percentage of the American public.

Now, I don't know what "okay" means in this context. Nor do I "think it is fine," another rhetorical turn that I don't understand at all. Many things are necessary which are neither "okay" nor "fine." Honoring the right of a church to practice it's own beliefs when there is no social good served by denying that right is one of them. And there is no social good to be served by denying the sanctity of the confessional. If the law in question were obeyed, it might lead to the investigation of one or two criminals who are currently getting away with their crimes, but that will dry up almost immediately when people realize that the confessional is not safe. Of course, just because they're investigated doesn't mean a conviction will follow, or even an indictment. My experience is that when it comes to abuse, trafficking, rape, or any other form of sexual crime, the perp walks far more often than he gets locked up.

-- Mal