Secrets Confided to the Clergy Are Getting Harder to Keep

"But even if they worry that some of the state laws may be unconstitutional, legal scholars acknowledge that they have broad public support. As Paul Rothstein, a professor of evidence law at Georgetown University Law Center, put it, 'There's a societal trend against child abusers,' and, along with it, 'a reaction against hiding harmful conduct behind privilege.'"

Are people bound to bow their religious princiles to societal trend? To quote Judge De Witt Clinton: "The sinner will not confess, nor will the priest receive his confession, if the veil of secrecy is removed."