God I fucking hate religion. These people are pure evil.
The reason this is allowed is because Arizona, like many other states, doesn’t require religious leaders to report instances of abuse to law enforcement if they learned about it through an act of confession. That’s not true everywhere. If a public school teacher learned that a student was being abused at home, that teacher has a legal obligation to tell the student’s counselor (who can take appropriate action). But not pastors. Not bishops. Not priests. If someone tells them a secret, believing it will remain a secret, then the law allows those leaders to keep it a secret, even if people are getting hurt.
I guess that's enough internet for today.......
Meanwhile, if I don’t report child abuse as a therapist, I can lose my license (and rightfully so). There are no repercussions for clergy. They will be protected by their church regardless.
The bill, well-intentioned as it might have been, would disrupt centuries of church dogma
Because the sunk cost of centuries of wrong thinking is more important than protecting children.
In other news, the Catholic Church was unavailable for comment.
Religion ruins everything.