Sinner in confession booth. By Anneke/stock.adobe.com
On October 14, the state of Washington settled a lawsuit with Catholic clergy concerning a law that would have forced priests to report child abuse or neglect learned about during the sacrament of confession. SB 5375, which was signed into law by Governor Robert Ferguson in May, threatened priests in violation of the law with a $5,000 fine and a year in jail if they failed to break the seal of confession.
Under Washington law, clergymen were already mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect, along with professionals like physicians, lawyers, and therapists. Each of these mandatory reporters was permitted to maintain confidentiality in relevant contexts. SB 5375 sought to change that, erasing the exception for priests while maintaining it for all other reporters.
Under Catholic canon law, priests are absolutely forbidden from disclosing information learned during confession. If priests directly break the seal of confession for any reason—even to comply with state law—they face excommunication from the Catholic Church. Even indirect violations of the seal of confession incur serious consequences.
Washington’s law would have forced priests to choose between upholding their religious convictions and complying with state law, an impossible choice with dire implications for religious liberty.
In late May, Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne, along with several other bishops and clergy, filed suit challenging the law on constitutional grounds. A federal judge blocked the law from taking effect, and the DOJ initiated an investigation into potential free exercise violations.
While the Church awaited the outcome, Archbishop Etienne assured Catholics that the seal of confession would remain intact regardless of the legal consequences, and recalled Peter’s statement to the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:29: “We must obey God rather than man.”
Thankfully, Washington walked away from the law. However, the attempt to target priests speaks to a concerning trend in church-state relations.
Is the church truly special?
The Western constitutional tradition—and indeed, the Bible itself—speaks to a division between the sphere of the church and the realm of civil government. In Scripture, this “two kingdoms” idea can be found in Jesus’s assertion that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36) and his instruction to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21). Paul also discusses this distinction in Romans 13, and Peter gives his instructions regarding civil authorities in 1 Peter 2.
During the Protestant Reformation, the two-kingdoms idea was popularized by reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin. Two centuries later, it informed the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses, the constitutional provisions that protect religious liberty.
Even so, state interference with the church is nothing new. Even as the two-kingdoms idea took hold during the Reformation, numerous European kingdoms continued to recognize Catholicism as their official religion. Others, like Scotland and Sweden, adopted variations of Protestantism as their state churches. In 1534, Henry VIII famously established the Church of England after the Catholic Church refused to grant him an annulment.
Ironically enough, these instances of interference with the church speak to the esteem in which these societies held it. Rulers interfered with the church because they recognized—or their constituents recognized—the spiritual authority it held, and they sought to harness that spiritual power to bolster their own political legitimacy.
There was a reason King Henry didn’t disregard the church entirely when he sought to divorce Catherine of Aragon. The church was special, and these kings and rulers knew it.
That has changed in the last century. Today, state interference with the church often takes the form of “fairness” concerns. Applying state nondiscrimination laws to churches’ selection of ministers and forcing nuns to provide abortifacient contraception in their healthcare plans are just two examples of state interference in the name of fairness.
To the legislators writing these laws, the church is no different from a secular organization, and there is no reason to give it special treatment. Washington’s law, which strips confidentiality rights from priests while maintaining them for doctors and lawyers, is a perfect example of this thinking at work.
As congregational attendance and belief in God have declined, Americans have lost the sense that the church is special—that its influence reaches beyond the temporal and touches eternity. As long as these trends continue, the church will face more and more opposition from states and legislators who do not acknowledge its uniqueness.
Counting the cost
Of course, just because faith is currently out of favor with legislators does not mean there is no hope for national change. Several Great Awakenings have followed periods of religious decline, and today may be no different.
A study by Pew Research found that Christianity’s decline appears to have leveled off in recent years. Gen Z now comprises the largest churchgoing group in America, and churches saw an upsurge in attendance after Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September.
In the midst of the chaos around us, believers need to remember that the church is special. We need the Body of Christ, and a lot of people are starting to realize this fact anew. We cannot forget that we do have something to offer the world. We have a hope, and his name is Jesus.
But if America doesn’t turn back toward God, what will we do in the face of continued opposition?
In Matthew 18:24, Jesus told his disciples that anyone who would come after him must “deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” When we become followers of Jesus, we must “count the cost” (Luke 14:28), knowing that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). In the face of persecution, “we must obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29), even at the cost of our livelihoods, our liberty, and our very lives.
How far are you willing to go for the gospel?
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