Friday, August 31, 2018
Australia is proposing making shamans mandatory reporters of sexual abuse learned of in confession. I suppose I understand, kind of, why this might seem like a good idea, but I think it is not, and I think it misses the real point, at least in the legal tradition that I practice in. The
law of privilege exists for a number of good reasons. One of those
reasons is that it pretty effectively keeps judges from having to rule
on matters of religious faith. Consider what a mess it would be to
conduct an evidentiary hearing on a confession made in the context of a
penitent seeking absolution-- to say nothing of the Constitutional
argument that government should stay out of matters of religion. I keep
harping on Mark 22:21, but it seems to me that this is where the real
failing of the institutional Church is to be found. When a crime is
reported to a cleric, which is what seems to have happened in most of
the reported instances I am aware of, the cleric should report the crime
to the appropriate civil authorities. Penitent reporting, to the extent
that it happens at all, is likely something that occurs at the margins.
Fix the main problem, then we can consider the fringe cases.
I am no lover of religion, and especially institutional religions, but these practices have demonstrated a unique persistence in history. Since we can't get rid of them the next best solution is to recognize that governmental interference with them is a bad idea. It would be interesting to look into how other governments deal with the Church/State relationship- I know that in some places churches are actually state-funded. I'm too American in my values to think that would be a workable plan here.
I am no lover of religion, and especially institutional religions, but these practices have demonstrated a unique persistence in history. Since we can't get rid of them the next best solution is to recognize that governmental interference with them is a bad idea. It would be interesting to look into how other governments deal with the Church/State relationship- I know that in some places churches are actually state-funded. I'm too American in my values to think that would be a workable plan here.
// posted by Bill @ 10:49 AM 
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Separation of church and state has become too much of an excuse to do nothing. Absolution is not meant to be granted in the case of criminal actions. Is it? We don't know, because the church claims its privilege allows it to remain opaque in all matters of the confessional.
If the "penitent" does not confess to civil authorities, whether or not the crime is repeated, should the matter then not be treated as extending beyond the sacrament and into a matter of the church proceeding to "render unto Caesar" by dobbing in the offender? That doesn't seem unreasonable to me. The power of the church versus the power of the state is a matter of which power is higher, and the church is not God and should not pretend to be.
Absolution, if it is being applied to criminal matters, should nullify any privilege claimed by the church. Let them keep for God that which is God's and give over to the state that which the state should administer. Crime may cross into sin, but sin doesn't necessarily constitute a crime. Draw the line where it belongs. This isn't the days of wandering the desert.
If the "penitent" does not confess to civil authorities, whether or not the crime is repeated, should the matter then not be treated as extending beyond the sacrament and into a matter of the church proceeding to "render unto Caesar" by dobbing in the offender? That doesn't seem unreasonable to me. The power of the church versus the power of the state is a matter of which power is higher, and the church is not God and should not pretend to be.
Absolution, if it is being applied to criminal matters, should nullify any privilege claimed by the church. Let them keep for God that which is God's and give over to the state that which the state should administer. Crime may cross into sin, but sin doesn't necessarily constitute a crime. Draw the line where it belongs. This isn't the days of wandering the desert.
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