# Church confessions admissable in court? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2003, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-confessions-admissable-in-court/162630 "2003-03-19T20:45:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-confessions-admissable-in-court/162630/21 "2003-03-21T19:50:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > I think there is a good possibility that if you “confess” to a priest or minister that you are _about to commit_ a serious crime, the minister is supposed to warn the police. Well, since this directly contradicts what a Catholic priest told me a long time ago, I guess I’d like a cite. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-confessions-admissable-in-court/162630/22 "2003-03-21T20:25:16Z")
IIRC, if you’re in the military and confess something to a military chaplain confidentiality pretty much goes out the window, at least if what you confess is a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). That includes things that aren’t even illegal in the civilian world, so I wouldn’t tell my priest I was having an affair or was gay, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-confessions-admissable-in-court/162630/23 "2003-03-21T20:56:08Z")
I hope we hear from someone with applicable experience soon, as this comment from [U.S. v. Benner](http://www.armfor.uscourts.gov/opinions/2002Term/01-0827.htm) seems to say the opposite: > [@](#): > > One of the most sacred privileges at common law was the confidentiality between a priest and penitent. “[It] recognizes the human need to disclose to a spiritual counselor, in total and absolute confidence, what are believed to be flawed acts or thoughts and to receive priestly consolation and guidance in return.” Trammel v. United States, 445 U.S. 40, 51 (1980). This privilege was recognized in paragraph 151(b)(2) of the 1951 Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, which provided: > Also privileged are communications between a person subject to military law and a chaplain, priest, or clergyman of any denomination made in the relationship of penitent and chaplain, priest, or clergyman, either as a formal act of religion or concerning a matter of conscience. > > When the Military Rules of Evidence were promulgated, Rule 503 expressly recognized a “[c]ommunications to clergy” privilege. > > It provides: > A person has a privilege to refuse to disclose and to prevent another from disclosing a confidential communication by the person to a clergyman or to a clergyman’s assistant, if such communication is made either as a formal act of religion or as a matter of conscience. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-confessions-admissable-in-court/162630/24 "2003-03-21T20:56:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*Well, since this directly contradicts what a Catholic priest told me a long time ago, I guess I’d like a cite. \*\* If you tell someone like a psychiatrist that you are going to hurt someone, s/he is supposed to alert the authorities, but a Catholic priest would not if it was told to him in the confessional. The priest would advocate stongly that the person not commit the crime, but if he were to tell the authorities, he would be looking at an immediate defrocking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-confessions-admissable-in-court/162630.md?page=1)