SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Channel 13 News
November 7, 2018
By Amanda Gerry
Utah legislators woke up from election night Wednesday morning to a release calling on a change in laws involving the sanctity of the communication between a clergy member and those who may seek forgiveness.
“We want all religions to be more transparent, in terms of their finances, in terms of their corporate policies and procedures, and in terms of their internal statistics on sex abuse,” said Ryan McKnight, executive director of the Truth and Transparency Foundation.
The Truth and Transparency Foundation, a non-profit organization that operates the websites MormonLeaks and FaithLeaks, sent a release to Utah legislators this morning calling on a change in state laws that exempt clergy from being forced to report instances of child abuse.
“While it may not prevent all wrong doing,” McKnight said, “it helps in trying to achieve as little wrong doing as possible.”
In the release, the organization states they have published documents that “show that clergy typically and intentionally avoid reporting abuse to law enforcement except in states where they are required to do so.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.