A legal battle is looming over Riverside County’s need to protect children, and people’s right to practice religion without government intrusion.

A prosecutor wants leaders of a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation to testify about what a Murrieta man accused of molesting two girls told them. So far, two of the elders who oversee the Windsong Valley Congregation in Wildomar say that defendant Gilbert Simental’s statements are confidential and they do not want to testify.

Simental’s attorney Miles Clark says his client is innocent of the molestation charges.

Riverside County prosecutor Burke Strunsky says the elders should testify because they have already told others that Simental admitted to molesting two girls, and therefore confidentiality laws do not apply, court records state.

California law protects statements made to clergy members who are required by their faith’s practices to keep them secret.