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Spiritual
care raises an important question for nurses: How does appropriate
spiritual care differ from proselytizing vulnerable people?
Some nurses believe that saying anything about personal
beliefs—especially Christian ones—is unprofessional
at best and coercive at worst.
A nurse
educator who teaches at a state university recently e-mailed,
“Hostile is not a strong enough word to describe my
experiences at [university]... I did not come out
as a Christian until after I was tenured.” Another
nursing instructor at a religiously affiliated school shared,
“I have to be very careful [her emphasis] talking
about anything Christian. Other spiritualities are accepted
and even encouraged: but taking ideas from Christianity
is politically incorrect.”
In a
recently published spiritual care nursing textbook, an author
addressed ethics in spiritual care, explaining that when
Christian nurses try to save [emphasis hers] dying
patients by converting them to Christianity, they prose
lytize. In so doing, she added, they meet their own personal
religious desires rather than respect the client’s
right to religious freedom.
Nurses
from any faith tradition can inappropriately influence clients
in the area of spirituality. Inappropriate interventions
include imposing beliefs or performing religious practices
without client consent. For example, some alternative treatments
include a spiritual element. If a nurse neglects to disclose
the spiritual roots or practices involved, the client cannot
provide informed consent. Performing an energy-based healing
treatment without explaining the underlying Eastern religious
perspective would be coercive.
What
if a dying client asked what you believe about life after
death? Should you respond by sharing your personal beliefs?
If you share about Jesus Christ, would you violate the client’s
religious freedom?
Sharing
faith with those who want to hear about it differs greatly
from imposing beliefs on others. The Bible provides three
clear guidelines to help us appropriately share Christian
faith. First, Jesus said that drawing people into a personal
relationship with himself is God’s job (Jn 6:44, 65).
The responsibility for converting people to Christianity
belongs to the Holy Spirit, not to me.
Second,
Jesus told the first Christians that power for witnessing
would come from the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). He taught that
the Spirit would indwell, teach and lead them (Jn 14:15-17,
26; 16:13). To continually tap into the power of the Holy
Spirit, Scripture tells Christians to pray diligently (Eph
6:18; 1 Thess 5:17) and study the Bible (2 Tim 2:15). Therefore,
I must actively seek God and follow his lead.
Third,
Christians also witness through their behavior. Scripture
says to get rid of things like anger, slander, lying, jealousy
and selfish ambition, replacing them with love, joy, compassion,
humility, patience and forgiveness (Col 3-4; Gal 5:13-23).
When people see the results of the Holy Spirit in your life,
they will want to know more about your faith.
The
Bible tells Christ’s followers to make the most of
every opportunity to proclaim the message about Jesus, even
in difficult situations. We are told to ask God to provide
opportunities to share our faith, and when he does, graciously
do so, while remaining sensitive to others (Col 4:3-6; 2
Tim 4:2). We should never mislead or manipulate. Nurses
must fully support a client’s right to choose other
faith options (see “A Code of Ethics for Christian
Witness,” p. 17).
Jesus’
disciple, Peter, described the difference between sharing
faith and imposing it on others when he wrote, “But
in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared
to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason
for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness
and respect.” (1 Pet 3:15, NIV).—KSS.
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