Essay on Citizens Rights, Religion and Spirituality

Citizen rights associated with spiritually and religion and environmental, social work have become an important debate in todays world. The discourse about religion is mainly discussed under health and welfare of human beings as they are concerned with offering holistic responses to peoples need (Karen, n.d). Citizen rights related to religion and spirituality has gained interest recently since it determines the needs and service of clients in health and welfare institutions such as non-governmental community service organization, hospitals, and statutory authorities. In the hospital, care providers should have a comprehensive knowledge about individual religious beliefs and respect their decisions that come as a result of religious influence. Their religious beliefs profoundly influence people in making decisions hence it is crucial for social workers to understand how to deal with such folks. For the last two decades, religious and spiritual debates have become powerful in determining how health and welfare services are offered. Religious institutions also play an essential role in the provision of social welfare, primarily through childrens homes.

Citizen rights discourse aims to create opportunities for all people to live full and productive lives as they wish. People have different ideologies, but they should be given equal opportunities in life regardless of their religious beliefs. Citizen rights movement emerged in the 1970s, when activists started to fight for all individuals to have the rights when receiving various social services. According to the civil rights movement, individuals should be given rights and capacities to participate fully in determine kind of services to be rendered to them regarding health and welfare needs. Currently, citizen rights movement has dominated various health and welfare fields, and in the health sector, they cover various concerns such as sexual health, breast cancer, HIV/AIDs, mental health, aging, and organ donation (Karen, n.d).

Citizen right discourse mainly focuses on the social structure and cultural problems since they are the major cause of the issues and hurdles facing service users. The members of civil rights movements argue that people with disability should be given equal rights just as other citizens. Their biology and personal pathology profoundly influence the construction of health and welfare institution since their needs have to be incorporated in the process. Caregivers should be sensitive to information provided to them by their clients as it is their rights to get quality services without any discrimination. Citizen rights movement seeks to empower all people and have knowledge and strategies to participate in determining their needs and selecting ways of satisfying those needs. Social workers should be ready to accept the decision made by their clients about the kind of services they would like to receive. Due to numerous citizen rights discourse, health institutions have policies that require health care provider to involve their clients in a decision-making process. The policies keep on changing and can enable social workers to create public awareness and support citizen self-determination (Karen, n.d).

Social workers are on the front lines in formulating social welfare policy meaning that social work education should be emphasized as a way of increasing awareness about damaging ideologies. The awareness will increase political discourse and advocacy for new policies about social welfare making it easier for social workers to do their job. Social workers should ensure policies facilitate social sustainability by involving government and other private sectors when there is a need change in their worker. The government should ensure that environmental resources are utilized sustainably for the benefit of future generation. Citizen rights discourse is crucial in ensuring that people receive equal opportunities regardless of their religious ideologies.

Reference

Karen, H. (n.d). Social work theories in context: Creating frameworks for practice. 2nd Edition.