Abstract
Social workers' growing interest in spirituality implicitly raises the issue of spiritual diversity. Demographic data indicate that the profession is not reflective of the larger society, with theistic populations such as Evangelical Christians being significantly underrepresented. As social workers wrestle with how to integrate spirituality and religion into social work, the lack of theistic voices may hinder their ability to understand the unique worldviews of Evangelicals and other theists. Indeed, the nontheistic majority may inadvertently shape the profession's emerging spirituality paradigm in such a manner that actually impairs social workers' ability to work with spiritual minorities. The author concludes by examining how the underrepresentation affects clients and suggests a number of steps to facilitate a more diverse profession that fosters respect for spiritual minorities.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 348-358 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Families in Society |
| Volume | 84 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| State | Published - Jul 2003 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Cite this
The Challenge of Spiritual Diversity : Can Social Work Facilitate an Inclusive Environment? / Hodge, David.
In: Families in Society, Vol. 84, No. 3, 07.2003, p. 348-358.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The Challenge of Spiritual Diversity
T2 - Can Social Work Facilitate an Inclusive Environment?
AU - Hodge, David
PY - 2003/7
Y1 - 2003/7
N2 - Social workers' growing interest in spirituality implicitly raises the issue of spiritual diversity. Demographic data indicate that the profession is not reflective of the larger society, with theistic populations such as Evangelical Christians being significantly underrepresented. As social workers wrestle with how to integrate spirituality and religion into social work, the lack of theistic voices may hinder their ability to understand the unique worldviews of Evangelicals and other theists. Indeed, the nontheistic majority may inadvertently shape the profession's emerging spirituality paradigm in such a manner that actually impairs social workers' ability to work with spiritual minorities. The author concludes by examining how the underrepresentation affects clients and suggests a number of steps to facilitate a more diverse profession that fosters respect for spiritual minorities.
AB - Social workers' growing interest in spirituality implicitly raises the issue of spiritual diversity. Demographic data indicate that the profession is not reflective of the larger society, with theistic populations such as Evangelical Christians being significantly underrepresented. As social workers wrestle with how to integrate spirituality and religion into social work, the lack of theistic voices may hinder their ability to understand the unique worldviews of Evangelicals and other theists. Indeed, the nontheistic majority may inadvertently shape the profession's emerging spirituality paradigm in such a manner that actually impairs social workers' ability to work with spiritual minorities. The author concludes by examining how the underrepresentation affects clients and suggests a number of steps to facilitate a more diverse profession that fosters respect for spiritual minorities.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0142230986&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0142230986
VL - 84
SP - 348
EP - 358
JO - Journal of social casework
JF - Journal of social casework
SN - 1044-3894
IS - 3
ER -