Shouldn't Spiritual Advisement be Confidential?
Do we expect confidentiality from our spiritual advisors? For many of us, this is a basic assumption. Nothing can be more private, no level of trust more precious, than that between the spiritual guide and the person seeking direction.
That may not be the case with celebrity advisors such as Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. Rabbi Boteach was on CNN during prime time this evening divulging a bewildering array of confidences entrusted in him by Michael Jackson.
Granted, Mr. Jackson is dead, information that has effectively replaced international news coverage in the American media this week. Is there a statute of limitations on the confidentiality of spiritual direction which ends immediately upon the death of the advisee? Would anyone confide their deepest, most personal thoughts and yearnings to a respected religious guide if there was the faintest chance that guide would “tell all” before the funeral? Is there a code of ethics for spiritual advisors? Or are they above the law of common human decency?
Linda Brown Holt
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