Legal Issues & Religious Counseling

This much-needed book offers a current description of how religious counselors and clergy as well as their local and national religious organizations become legally vulnerable. It examines the three most litigated areas in clergy counseling: breaches of confidentiality, sexual misconduct, and the content and quality of counseling service. The authors provide clear and concise explanations of clauses in the U.S. Constitution pertaining to religion as well as up-to-date accounts of cases against clergy and their employers. The authors describe how counseling clergy can perform their own "legal audit," and the book includes detailed listings of state-by-state statutes for referral.