State supreme court rules in case of two bishops who were silent about three children abused by Mormon parents

Clergy members in Arizona who learn of child abuse in the context of religious confession are not required to report it, the state’s supreme court has said in a ruling that protects what church leaders call the “seal of the confessional”.

The panel’s ruling ends a long-running case in which three children who were sexually abused by their parents sued the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), also known as the Mormon church, and two bishops who became aware of the crimes but remained silent.

The case has parallels in a short-lived 2025 law in Washington state that would have compelled clergy members there to report sexual abuse. That proposal was permanently withdrawn in October after legal action by the Catholic church.

In a statement, the LDS welcomed the unanimous ruling by the state supreme court on Thursday that exempts clergy members as “mandated reporters” if they learned of the abuse of minors in the confession booth or through other “confidential” methods.

  • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.today
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    2 days ago

    The universe relies on a lot of specific conditions.

    That’s an assertion with no evidence. It’s not like we have other universes we can compare to.

    Thus it must have a creator.

    No, that does not follow. You have it backwards again. We evolved to fit our environment, and now you turn around and say the environment was designed for us. You’ve drawn a target around where the arrow already landed and you’re pretending you hit a bulls-eye.

    There is a lot of philosophical evidence as well as scientific evidence.

    There is no such thing as philosophical evidence. There is measurable evidence, and there is logic we can apply to reach conclusions. There is zero scientific evidence supporting the existence of any god.

    What’s your favorite piece of philosophical “evid”? I will explain the fallacy.

    Who is responsible for the natural phenoma?

    Why assume any one being is responsible for it? Why assume that being has a mind?

    Even identical twins who share DNA have different fingerprints. We are all unique. This is all more proof of a creator and a soul

    Nope, you failed to read the article. Read the whole thing, not just the part you want to cherry-pick.

    Also, you’re just plain wrong. Different fingers, even on different individuals, can match: https://arxiv.org/html/2412.13135v1

    Galton’s argument, then, is that as the number of people on planet Earth was around 1.6 billion when he was writing his argument, the chance that an individual’s fingerprint would be exactly like that of the same finger of any other member of the human race was 1 to 4. To be accepted today, Galton’s modeling would require more detail and should rely less on an individual’s subjective guesses, but with minor changes, it is correct and conservative.

    So your “evidence” for god, which would not have actually been evidence of a creator even if all our fingerprints were unique, is just false.

    Please take time to challenge your assumptions. Your faith has taken you dangerously far from the world we actually live in.

    We have ZERO evidence suggesting the existence of:

    • god
    • magic
    • christ
    • souls
    • heaven
    • hell
    • angels
    • satan

    So why are you pretending otherwise?

    • root@lemmy.wtf
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      2 days ago

      It relies on the Big Bang to exist. If it has a beginning, it must have a cause.

      • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.today
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        2 days ago

        If it has a beginning, it must have a cause.

        Why do you assume the big bang was the beginning of existence?

        The honest answer is “we don’t know what led to our existence, but we learn more the more we look.” The dishonest answer is “must’ve been a wizard.”

        Do you believe that god has no beginning? Maybe the universe is like that.

        • root@lemmy.wtf
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          2 days ago

          The universe, as agreed upon is the combination of time, space and matter

          so if it was created, the creator needs to be outside of time, space and matter and be powerful enough to create the universe and be loving enough to create it even though he didnt need it

          • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.today
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            1 day ago

            The universe, as agreed upon is the combination of time, space and matter

            I suppose? The universe is everything, all of existence, from what I understand. Your model leaves out light, massless photons.

            so if it was created

            Big if! We have no reason to assume it was.

            the creator needs to be outside of time, space and matter and be powerful enough to create the universe and be loving enough to create it even though he didnt need it

            And so did his creator. Right? Or is this special pleading again?

            Also, a god who would give kids cancer is not doing it out of love. I resent my parents for giving birth to me. This life is more suffering than joy, and that is largely thanks to your death cult and others.

            • root@lemmy.wtf
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              23 hours ago

              If God is outside of time, he has no beginning nor end, so he does not need a creator as he exists of himself

              • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.today
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                14 hours ago

                If God is outside of time, he has no beginning nor end, so he does not need a creator as he exists of himself

                Maybe the universe is like that. We don’t know.

                You’re pretending that science justifies the christian god specifically, which is ridiculous. If (big if) there is some kind of supertemporal framework for our universe, we probably shouldn’t call it “god” or anthropomorphize it. That would just confuse people.

                • root@lemmy.wtf
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                  13 hours ago

                  The universe is not like that. It has a beginning so it CANNOT be eternal nor exist of itself

                  • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.today
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                    13 hours ago

                    You don’t know that. Stop treating assumptions like facts. It’s okay to say “I don’t know.” It’s not okay to make shit up.

          • Axolotl@feddit.it
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            1 day ago

            be loving enough to create it

            Welp, i created my minecraft world but i am not very loving of villagers

        • root@lemmy.wtf
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          2 days ago

          The big bang itself has a beginning right? something cant be created from nothing.

          • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.today
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            1 day ago

            God itself has a beginning, right? Something cannot be created from nothing.

            Here, again, is the most honest truth: we don’t know.

            But inventing wizards does not solve any of these questions, it just kicks the can down the road, from the universe to an anthropomorphic yet vaguely defined “supreme” being whose supposed omnipotence fails to prevent needless suffering. You’ve not answered any questions, and you’ve added many more by making unfalsifiable claims.

            • root@lemmy.wtf
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              23 hours ago
              1. No, God has to be outside of time to create time for time cannot create time.
              • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.today
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                14 hours ago

                time cannot create time.

                How do you know that?

                And how do you know time can’t be “created” by something that isn’t god?

                I’d also like to point out that in order to perform the act of creation, god must already be experiencing time. So where did his time come from?

                • root@lemmy.wtf
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                  13 hours ago

                  I cannot invent something that already exists, right? I cant take a lightbulb and say I invented lightbulbs.

                  God relies completely on hinself, and why must he be experiencing time?

                  • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.today
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                    13 hours ago

                    why must he be experiencing time?

                    Because he performed the act of creating us. There is no action if there is no time.

                    Any argument you apply to god can be applied to the universe itself. You have arguments from ignorance and nothing else, which is not sufficient to convince anyone reasonable of god’s existence.

          • Axolotl@feddit.it
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            1 day ago

            We don’t in fact know if the big bang is the beginning or if it’s correct the theory at all, for what we know there could’ve been another universe before the big bamg and something happened to it

        • root@lemmy.wtf
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          2 days ago

          the universe is definitely not eternal as it has an end.