By Cassy Benefield | FāVS News Reporter
Monday, several Orthodox churches filed a federal lawsuit to sue Washington for religious discrimination over the state’s recent passage of a law mandating clergy to report child abuse and neglect, including if discovered within the confessional.
The Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF) filed on their behalf. They argued in a press release that the state is singling out priests’ religious obligations, giving them worse treatment if not followed while protecting other private disclosures.
“Washington is targeting priests by compelling them to break the sacred confidentiality of confession while protecting other confidential communications, like those between attorneys and their clients,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch. “That’s rank religious discrimination.”
Orthodox churches join Catholic opposition
The Orthodox Church in America said in that same press release that “Every state, including Washington, honors the clergy-penitent privilege.”
This is false. Washington now unites with seven states — New Hampshire, West Virginia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas — to deny privilege for confidential communication in cases of child abuse and neglect, including within the confessional.
These Orthodox churches join the Catholic Bishops of Washington who filed a federal lawsuit against the state on May 29, almost three weeks after Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the bill into law May 2.
Bill took 20 years to pass
Senate Bill 5375 made Washington history when signed by becoming the bill that moved the state from being one of the most permissive states on child abuse reporting laws to one of the strictest. This, after over 20 years trying to change it.
Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, who is a childhood sexual abuse survivor, is only the latest legislator to work toward this change. She proposed the bill in three different versions over the last three legislative sessions.
Washington’s new law, going into effect July 27, adds back “members of the clergy” into the state’s mandatory reporters law code, which was removed in 1975. It also does not include clergy-penitent privilege to private conversations if child abuse or neglect come up in a confessional setting.
Both of these lawsuits follow on the heels of the U.S. Justice Department’s announcement that they opened a civil rights investigation on the law for violating the First Amendment rights of Washington’s Catholic bishops, just a few days after the bill was signed.
“SB 5375 demands that Catholic priests violate their deeply held faith in order to obey the law, a violation of the Constitution and a breach of the free exercise of religion cannot stand under our Constitutional system of government,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a press release.
The press release also stated this law is “anti-Catholic” and applies to communications received in the “absolute seal of confession that applies to Catholic priests.”
“We take this matter very seriously and look forward to Washington State’s cooperation with our investigation,” Dhillon said.
Supporters say law applies to all clergy
Supporters of the bill argue SB 5375 doesn’t single out Catholic clergy.
“We believe … certain aspects for the new law are being misconstrued,” said Sharon Huling, member of the Clergy Accountability Coalition. “‘All members of the clergy’ will be required to report credible knowledge of child abuse. Catholics are not the only religion who have used Washington’s loophole in the law to avoid reporting child abuse.”
The law doesn’t apply to Catholics or Orthodox priests alone. The law makes Independendent Fundamental Baptist pastors and leaders, Jehovah’s Witnesses elders, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leaders, Protestant church leaders and spiritual counselors of all kinds accountable to report child abuse and neglect, including child sexual abuse, to authorities even if the conversation was considered private.
Huling adds that members of the clergy still will not be required to testify in court when it comes to the safety of a child, whereas other mandatory reporters would.
What makes the Catholic and Orthodox Sacrament of Confession unique among religions is it forbids priests from breaking the seal of confession as part of their respective Canon Law. If they do, they will be not only be committing a sin, they will be excommunicated.
The Washington Revised Section of Code that SB 5375 will modify for clergy is RCW 5.60.060, which describes what is considered “privileged communications.”
Mandatory reporters like doctors, mental health counselors and domestic violence advocates already have their privileged communication removed in cases of child abuse and neglect or when there is suspicion of imminent harm to an individual.
“We believe that the law will be upheld as constitutional as the Washington State religious freedom clause clearly states that ‘Absolute freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment … but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state,’” Huling said.
