After Catholic bishops and the federal government argued that it was more important to protect sexual predators than their victims, the state of Washington has agreed to a settlement saying they won’t go after priests who refuse to rat out child sexual abusers who confess during a religious ritual.
It’s a depressing ending to a law that took years to pass and that could have protected survivors of sexual abuse. All to appease religious zealots.
You may recall that Democrats in Washington passed a law in May requiring clergy members to report child abuse to law enforcement authorities even if they learned about it solely through the act of confession.
Almost immediately, Catholic leaders balked at the possibility that their religious ritual was supposedly under attack. A trio of bishops sued to block the law and the Republican-led Justice Department soon filed its own lawsuit.
A quick reminder about this law: It merely added “member of the clergy” to the list of mandated reporters in the state. What made it unique was that it specifically said clergy members would not be protected by an older law which allowed certain private communications to remain private.
Continue @ Friendly Atheist.
No comments