Published March 18, 2025
On Tuesday, March 18, EPPC scholar Eric Kniffin submitted public comment on Senate Bill 5375, pending before the Washington State Legislature, which would prioritize clergy members’ legal duty to report suspected child abuse over their religious duty to keep penitential communications absolutely private.
Kniffin’s public comment cites his previous testimony on similar bills and responds to testimony given at a recent hearing. He argues that the bill treats the clergy-penitent privilege worse than other comparable secular privileges and that undermining the sacrament of confession is not necessary to protect children.
Kniffin also responded to witnesses who claim the State should pass the bill as is because some religious groups are prone to abuse the clergy-penitent privilege. He argues that these concerns would be addressed by a bill with a narrower exemption, such as one the Legislature almost passed last year.
Kniffin states:
[The Legislature] should act to protect Washington State’s children. You must at the same time ensure you honor your obligation to respect religious liberty and infringe on that right only when you find that you can advance the government’s interests no other way.
Here, it is plain that SB 5375’s approach, which would override the clergy-penitent privilege entirely, is not necessary to protect children. As such, the bill violates the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause. I encourage Washington State to review again alternatives that both protect children and protect religious exercise.
You can read the written testimony in its entirety here.
Eric Kniffin is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he works on a range of initiatives to protect and strengthen religious liberty as part of EPPC’s Administrative State Accountability Project.
