“By elinating the possibility of confessing one’s sins you are arguably promoting more such sins because if a rapist confesses it means he has remorse of fear for his soul and might well go and do that sin any more. Without the confessional there is not that possibility.”
Priests are not necessary for confession, nor forgiveness in Scripture. Anyone can confess directly to God.
False argument.
I guess for heretics that works, but Heaven is at a far remove from them.
That is your belief. Three quarters of the Christian world disagrees with you.