The state of Washington has once again exposed itself as a stronghold of anti-Christian bigotry. While the Pacific Northwest has long festered with a contemptuous disdain towards traditional morality, its willingness to legislatively target Christianity with specificity has become more pronounced in recent years.
Washington State Senate Bill 5375 does just that. In April, Washington state senators passed the measure, which is intended ostensibly to curb problems of sexual abuse. It was then passed by the state house and signed by the governor.
The law requires Catholic priests to report to the state any person who admits during the Sacrament of Confession to committing such abuse.
Admittedly, it sounds reasonable and even appropriate on the surface. But there's a reason that the law includes a reporting exception for doctors who hear admissions from patients, and lawyers who hear admissions from clients.
The state recognizes that a person's health may be negatively impacted if they don't feel comfortable being open and honest with their doctor. Similarly, the state recognizes that the entire justice system collapses if a lawyer must divulge the guilt of a client they are supposed to defend.
The state should also recognize that a person's soul may be imperiled by placing obstacles between them and clearing their conscience before God by seeking forgiveness.
To be clear, I am not a Catholic. I believe that Jesus was the Great High Priest whose sacrifice on the cross inaugurated the priesthood of all believers. Because of Christ's finished work at Calvary, no one needs another person to interpose between them and God. We are all invited into His throne room to confess our sins and be reconciled to Him, as evidenced by the temple veil being ripped top to bottom as Jesus breathed His last at Golgotha. My sins are confessed to God directly and need no intermediary.
I also believe that there are millions of Catholics who accept their church's teaching that "confession" is a sacrament that is necessary for them to have a clean conscience before God. One such Catholic, Emily Zanotti, wrote it this way:
The practice of confession isn't just 'therapy for Catholics': It's a sacrament where we believe God extends His forgiveness for our sins, which we must lay out to a priest, Christ's representative on earth. It's a ritual: You list your sins in conversation with a priest, often anonymously or from behind a screen, and in return, the priest assigns a penance and grants absolution.
It's also a ritual critical to the spiritual life of Catholics. Without forgiveness and absolution, Catholics who die in a state of sin could go straight to hell, and Catholics who live in a state of mortal sin are barred from communion, which is the heart of our faith.
Those need not be my beliefs for me to recognize they are the legitimate expression of convictions that millions of my countrymen embrace.
Convictions that our Founding Fathers sought to protect first and foremost of any other rights and liberties.
Convictions that Thomas Jefferson assured the Danbury Baptists were shielded by a "wall of separation between church and state."
We all understand the magnitude of the matter of sexual abuse. But principled opposition to government encroachment on the rights of conscience is not a peripheral issue either. If exceptions are made for lawyers, who are specifically exempted by this law from having to report crimes confessed to them by their clients, or therapists, or doctors, or a menagerie of other professionals to whom special privilege applies, the sanctity of someone's religious conscience should receive similar consideration.
The Catholic Church is digging in its heels, threatening priests that if they comply with the Washington law and thus betray the sacred confidentiality of the confessional, they will face excommunication. Coming to their side is the Trump Administration, which has signaled their intent to do what they can to oppose the "unconstitutional" legislation.
As for the rest of us who are not Catholic, it might be wise of us to remember anti-religious bigotry doesn't usually stay confined to one group, one sect, or even one faith. As James Madison famously wrote,
It is the right of every man to exercise [the right of conscience] as [his convictions] may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right. It is unalienable, because the opinions of men, depending only on the evidence contemplated by their own minds cannot follow the dictates of other men: It is unalienable also, because what is here a right towards men, is a duty towards the Creator.
Inalienable doesn't include Washington state, apparently.
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.
