So, I’ve been following this Etan Patz killer story pretty closely for the last few days, but today was the first time I saw something relevant to religious beliefs in it.
For those who haven’t been following, Patz is the 6-year-old boy who went missing in 1980 and was famously the first to have his picture on a milk carton.
There’s a lot of weird stuff about this case, including an admitted molester who is serving time for Etan’s disappearance (along with a litany of other abuse crimes). But recently, Pedro Hernandez came forward and said he strangled the boy to death for seemingly no reason (sexual or otherwise).
Now that he’s come forward a buncha folks he’s known have come forward saying something along the lines of “you know, he did mention to me once that he killed a little boy, but I didn’t think anything of it.” Yeah, weird, right?
Anyway, now the man’s own sister says he admitted it in a prayer group. Is a prayer group somehow above the law?
A prayer service is not a confession,” says Ms. McAvoy, who also has her own legal consulting business.
The distinction is important because most states have laws giving priests and penitents confidentiality privileges. “Priests do not have to go to court or testify about confessions,” she says. “Most priests are hesitant about talking about anything said in a confessional.”
In fact, many ministers say that confessions put them in a difficult position. For example, some church insurance policies require ministers to report certain crimes. Hardly any state exempts clergy from reporting a confession about child abuse.
“When someone comes and says they want to confess, I tell them right upfront, I am mandated to turn in crimes,” says the Rev. Jim Barnes, national minister of the Evangelical Association of Reformed and Congregational Christian Churches in St. Louis.
I’m interested in the idea that when it comes to health care legislation, certain parties are quite rigid about what the government can compel a religious organization to do.
“The Constitution reads ‘no law concerning the establishment of religion!’” They declare.
Do they think that hands-off approach applies when it comes to the murder of a child? Sounds like many of the priests don’t even see it that way, even if they’re pressured by their insurance.
