Fisherman said:
"Since government does not have any authority to interpret the Bible or any other religious code, it also lacks authority to interpret that "confession" is restricted to one clergy person. Government restricting "confession" to one priest or minister is unconstitutional because it is defining and interpreting and restricting how a religious act should be done. Who should impose the standard of how the religious act of confession should be done and with how many clergymen present? Funny that Delaware law uses Catholic shop talk.In my opinion if this definition has to go to go all the way up to the US Supreme Court for clarification, the JW version of confession will continue to enjoy immunity same as a Catholic priest or clergy.
The WT organization enjoys a special kind of immunity from any criticism in the JW world. I think that you are under the illusion that they make the rules and can "redefine terms" for everyone else. Clergy confidentiality has a meaning. It can't become whatever is convenient for your organization. The entire law might well be illegal, but on the other hand, the purpose it serves deals with CLERGY (which you have none) and confidentiality (which you don't have as a JW, either). You want to totally redefine this to mean that a person can speak to any random person in their church and confess to anyone and they can't tell anyone-because that is how they choose to practice their faith. It is a limited exemption for a reason (that is fast going away as it doesn't serve a society well that has rule of law to deal with crime rather than only religious guilt holding people back from it).
When there are only two people in a room, there can actually be confidentiality. The minute more than one set of ears is privy to a confession of any kind, it becomes subject to gossip. A priest has his own religious duty to not say anything. A JW has HIS religious duty to tell other elders, tell the branch and announce it from the pulpit. Hence, the one ADMITTING guilt, is not expecting confidentiality.
Furthermore, the judge pointed out that these were NOT penitent situations. Those people (particulary the adult) were not confessing sin but admitting it when pressed (the boy by his mom and the woman by the elders). The woman didn't come to them in a way to get counsel, but because she was not given a choice.
Hopefully, there will soon be a removal of all clergy confidentiality laws on the books so the WT can't play this stupid disingenuous game anymore. We all know better-its a farce to protect the organization. They were not interested in helping either the child or the woman. they expelled them from the congregation. Who then were they protecting? Themselves, the reputation of JWs. Had they called in the authorities, her JWyness would have been exposed because of their relationship and the fact that she was in education. Can't have THAT!