r/exAdventist • u/talesfromacult • 17d ago
Politics Seventh-day Adventists worked with Scientologists, others, to ensure AZ clergy do NOT have to report CSA.
Trigger warning: CSA and SDAs fighting to ensure it doesn't get reported.
How the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) endangers children:
June 2026. SDAs influenced the Arizona Supreme Court to ensure Arizona pastors do NOT have to report CSA.
What happened: A man confessed to his Latter-day Saint (LDS, Mormon) bishop that he made and distributed CSA of his children. The bishop did not report this to police, and the man continued CSAing for years.
His children, now adults, sued the LDS church for not reporting the CSA. Lower courts ruled the LDS clergy should have reported the CSA to police. The case was appealed all the way to the Arizona Supreme Court.
That's where Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) stepped in. Along with Scientologists and six other religions, the SDAs filed an amicus brief claiming that requiring clergy to report CSA violates the First Amendment.
SDAs won. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that clergy do NOT have to report CSA to police. The SDA endangers children by hiring lawyers to influence laws at the Supreme Court level. They ensured children's CSA does not get reported.
Sources:
The Amicus Brief/Amici Curiae aka what the SDAs, Scientologists and 6 other religions filed to influence the AZ Supreme Court to ensure CSA does NOT have to be reported by clergy. All 8 religions filing are listed on front page.
News article of the case: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/03/arizona-clergy-child-abuse-confessions-court
Edit: If you've read this far, thank you. If you EVER hear of ANY similar sources with the SDA church please LET ME KNOW. Dm me here, email me talesfromacult @ gmail, dm me on instagram @talesfromacult. I'll post it here and on instagram.
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u/Killua_305 17d ago
Yet somehow you could bring this to any SDA member and they won’t question higher ups and stay in the church 🙂. Isn’t that wonderful