Are religious beliefs and social work mutually exclusive?

"Why professionals who take their religious beliefs into social work practice can end up in a disciplinary hearing.

When some Christians' beliefs collide with practice and the law.

What happens when religious beliefs – in this case some Christian interpretations – collide with social work practice and law?

In his 1933 account of being down and out in London, George Orwell recalled meeting a Christian woman in a small, tin-roofed shed who offered tea, buns and prayers to homeless men. "She talked upon religious subjects - about Jesus Christ always having a soft spot for poor rough men like usand what a difference it made to a man on the road if he said his prayers regularly. We hated it," he wrote.

The sketch provides a glimpse into the early roots of many social care organisations in the UK, when faith was a driving force and dared to speak its name - whether service users liked it or not. But today the role of religion in the caring professions is causing increasing controversy."

Read more here: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/25/112688/what-place-does-religion-have-in-social-work.html