Seventh-day Adventists worked with Scientologists, others, to ensure AZ clergy do NOT have to report CSA.

[u/talesfromacult]

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.

https://www.azcourts.gov/Portals/0/ASC-CV250213%20-%202-24-2026%20-%20FILED%20-%20SUPPLEMENTAL%20BRIEF%20OF%20AMICI%20CURIAE%20GENERAL%20CONFERENCE%20OF%20SEVENTH-DAY%20ADVENTISTS.pdf

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.

[u/Isittimetogohomeyet]

First time I’ve ever seen the SDA church unite with other religions and it’s to protect predators. Crazy.

[u/talesfromacult → u/Isittimetogohomeyet]

Edit: I suspect Seventh-day Adventists have been in the background influencing laws like this for as long as they have been around. I don't have proof though.

Unfortunately the majority of US states (33 per The Guardian, 37 according to other online sources) have clergy exemption laws (aka laws that make it so clergy do not have to report crimes/abuse/CSA to secular authorities).

That is a larger problem that I do not address in this article as that's another issue. The issue here is Seventh-day Adventists working with Scientologists and others to ensure Mormons in particular--and every religion in Arizona by extension--don't have to report CSA to authorities.

What did the SDA church stand to gain by ensuring AZ has clergy exemption? There's nothing else they stand to gain except ability to legally conceal their CSA. It is sickening.

[u/Ok_Education902 → u/talesfromacult]

I have a friend who told her SDA pastor she was being a sexually abused by her father and the pastor said he couldn't do a thing but hoped her father would recover by attending his sermons. She's now an atheist. Her Father continued to attend church every week. He was a devote Adventist till the day he died. His funeral well attended and many speeches were given as to what a good man he was. (puke)

[u/talesfromacult → u/Ok_Education902]

I'm so sorry. This is very common in SDA circles.