The Difference Between a Confidence and a Secret

The Bible doesn't treat every kind of silence the same. It protects confidences entrusted in love, but condemns concealment that withholds the truth from those who have a rightful claim to it.

There have been two news stories running side by side this week, and at first glance they might appear to be contradictory. In Arizona, a court ruled that a church did not have to hand a confession over to the state. Meanwhile, in Michigan and Maryland, the federal government is telling two school districts they do not get to keep information about stud…