Social work, religion, and sexual orientation: A discourse analysis

This thesis seeks to begin a preliminary analysis of the current discourse surrounding religion and social work. In the significant literature on the subject, the authors often compared what they perceived as the oppression of religious people in the profession of social work to the oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people in the larger society. Religion was defined in a very specific way and that the term "religion" was used as a proxy for "Christianity." The use of "religion" as a proxy for "Christianity" was quite restrictive on its own, but the definition of Christianity given by the authors of the texts was so narrow as to exclude many who might self-identify as Christians. In constructing a particular vision of what it means to be Christian, the authors also begin to construct the tone of the dialog within the profession regarding Christianity and social work. The construction that was created included a great deal of adherence to conservative political ideals and antipathy towards LGBT people. The thesis addresses the way in which a hegemonic group---Christians---was claiming to be oppressed by gays and lesbians, a group which is often considered to be an oppressed and at-risk. It also analyzes the language used by the authors of the texts to examine their assumptions about the power dynamics at work in society and in the social work profession. This analysis is important to the profession of social work as more interest in religion and its affect on social work values increases.