DELAWARE
Christian Today
Ruth Gledhill CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 10 November 2015
A US judge is considering whether it is constitutional to have a law that protects the clergy of just one religious denomination from disclosing what is said to them in confession.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Mary Miller Johnston, who has served on the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee to the Delaware State Bar Association and who is a member of the board of governors of Wesley Theological Seminary, is considering whether legislation should apply to elders in a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation.
Delaware currently protects Catholic priests from disclosing to police any child abuse or other crime disclosed to them in confession, and is not the only state to do so. The priest-penitent privilege is regarded in law in the US, UK and elsewhere as similar to the lawyer-client confidentiality privilege and usually protects ministers of all religions and denominations within those religions.
The Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit against the Laurel Delaware Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses last year alleging two elders failed to report a sexual relationship between an adult female member of the church and a 14-year-old boy, Delaware Online reported.
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