CrimLaw

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Sadly, our legislature is trying to find ways to void privilige between clergy and lay person. I am particularly disturbed by the attempt to pass a law requiring a clergyman to break privilige if what he learned under privilige is confirmed outside of privilige. As a Catholic I have the highest confidence that a priest will not break the seal of the confessional and I am sure the confessional, as a religious requirement, is protected by the 1st Amendment. However, I am not sure that a court somewhere will not say this type of statute is constitutional as long as the trappings of a confession are not present (no little closets, no kneeling, no formalistic prayers). One would think that this kind of law should bother Protestants a lot more than Catholics. At least I know I can go and (if I follow the rules) guarantee my talk with the priest is private; if a Protestant is troubled and goes to talk with his preacher he is in a situation where the discussion is not required by his faith and has no formalities to distinguish it from a regular, everyday conversation.