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News Link • Religion: Believers

The War Against Religious Freedom

• LewRockwell.com - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

In Washington, a bill has just passed that requires Catholic priests to report information about child abuse they become aware of, even if this requires revealing what is learned in confession. The Church absolutely forbids this, but this doesn't stop our new lords and masters. Here are the details: 'Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson on Friday signed a controversial state law that requires priests to report child abuse to authorities even if they learn of it during the sacrament of confession. The measure, introduced in the state Legislature earlier this year, adds clergy to the list of mandatory abuse reporters in the state but doesn't include an exemption for information learned in the confessional. A 2023 version of the proposal had offered an exemption for abuse allegations learned "solely as a result of a confession." The latest bill does not contain such a carve-out and in fact explicitly notes that clergy do not qualify for a 'privileged communication' exemption. Ferguson told reporters that as a Catholic he was 'very familiar' with the sacrament of confession. '[I] felt this was important legislation,' he said on Friday."

Ferguson is an extreme leftwinger. If you don't approve of homosexual "marriage," watch out. When he was the state's Attorney General, Ferguson filed a suit against an cake maker who refused to make a wedding cake for a homosexual couple: In April 2013 Ferguson filed a consumer protection lawsuit  against Barronelle Stutzman and her Richland floral shop Arlene's Flowers even without a complaint by Robert Ingersoll and his fiance Curt Freed. Ferguson claimed the business violated Washington's consumer protection law after Stutzman refused to provide flowers for the couple's same-sex wedding. The attorney general's office sent Stutzman a letter informing her she was in violation of Washington State's Consumer Protection Act. A letter by Ferguson called for a penalty of $2,000 and to celebrate all same-sex unions. Stutzman replied that it was against her religious beliefs to do so."


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