The community of social work is governed by a code of ethics that helps practitioners act in the most consistent and professional manner. "The Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers stipulates that social workers should obtain education about and seek to understand the nature of social diversity and oppression with respect to religion" (Hodge, 2002 ). Although social workers may be open to organized religion, Hodge found in his study of social workers …showed first 75 words of 662 total…

…showed last 75 words of 662 total…same beliefs as themselves. It is important to have a wide variety of individuals with different beliefs working as social workers. When the profession is diverse clinicians have many more resources than if the profession is homogeneous. "The central point is to ensure that each population is given a voice and is treated in a manner that they feel respects their worldview, instead of interpreting populations through the ideological lens of the dominant class" (Hodge, 2002).