I will confess to not having read the state cases, or at least not most of them. But isn't the question *whether* the privilege is constitutionally required? (Perhaps the fact that it is referred to as a privilege muddies the waters.) If free exercise of religion includes receiving a sacrament, then why is compelling violation of the privilege not a constitutional issue? Indeed, I wonder why a recent discussion suggested stronger free speech claims than free exercise claims; does the First Amendment make that distinction? I have no doubt courts have read it that way, but that's partly why we get distortions of free exercise claims masquerading as free speech claims.
Richard Dougherty University of Dallas On Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 1:17 PM, <hamilto...@aol.com> wrote: > With all due respect to this entire thread, how many people have actually > read the state cases involving the priest-penitent privilege? There is a > level of abstraction > to this discussion that indicates to me probably not. As someone who has > actively been involved in arguing the issue in court in the last year, I'd > suggest that the law is > more reticulated and specific. state-by-state, than the speculation going > on here. It is state law, which means 50 states plus DC law, and it is a > privilege that is not constitutionally required, > particularly when the issue is whether the religious confessor or > confessee engaged in illegal behavior. > > > Marci A. Hamilton > Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law > Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law > Yeshiva University > 55 Fifth Avenue > New York, NY 10003 > (212) 790-0215 > http://sol-reform.com > <https://www.facebook.com/professormarciahamilton?fref=ts> > <https://twitter.com/marci_hamilton> > > -----Original Message----- > From: Christopher Lund <l...@wayne.edu> > To: 'Law & Religion issues for Law Academics' <religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> > Sent: Fri, Dec 6, 2013 10:06 am > Subject: RE: The clergy-penitent privilege and burdens on third parties > > Again, I’m late—sorry about that. But honestly people, it’s shocking > how many posts are written between the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Who can > keep up? > > So this may backtrack, but I’ve been thinking about the earlier posts in > this thread. Say there are no secular analogies to the priest-penitent > privilege. Does that, in itself, justify the conclusion that it is > favoritism for religion? > >
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