Banning confessions is wrong

It is to be hoped that the Union government will forcefully reject a recent recommendation of the National Council for Women to ban the centuries old tradition of the confession, which is an important sacrament, in Christian churches.

The current leadership of the NCW is also deserving of reprimand and punishment for publicly questioning a key provision of our Constitution — the freedom of religion and the right to practice one’s faith without fear provided public order is not endangered.

Apparently there are a couple of reports — which are in need of investigation — of priests attempting to sexually blackmail some women of the congregation who made confessions before them. If the complaints are found valid, the Church must punish such priests and expel them. They should also be subjected to the fullest rigours of the law.

On the basis of complaints against two priests, the NCW has asked for the ending of a key Christian practice. How absurd can defenders of a political faith get? In the guise of rising to protect the rights of women against predatory males in our patriarchal social order, let the proponents of the ruling party not initiate a campaign against another religious minority, as it has been doing with vigour in the case of Muslims.

Gender justice is a very important aspect of our citizenship and must be seen to be done. But if the Church or the foundational institution of any religion needs to initiate reform, the problem it addresses needs to be widespread enough. Stray cases of rogue priests — of any faith — should call for the criminal justice system to be invoked, not the ending of a key religious practice. We must not have disaffected religious minorities in the country on account of enthusiastic majoritarianism.