Summary

• Thinking theoretically about the role of religion in social policy takes two forms: on the one hand, it involves looking at how religion can shape the content of social policy and social welfare, for instance, what values and definitions should constitute social welfare, the common good and correct moral action. This draws heavily from theology and scriptural teachings such as helping the needy, paying alms or not practising usury. On the other hand, it involves the form of social policy, meaning the way in which religious actor and institutions have shaped the actual development of the welfare state and/ or non-state social welfare action. Typically, Western countries have been divided along Protestant and Catholic lines, with the former favouring state welfare provision and the latter charity and voluntary action.

• Historical sociologists and sociologists of religion in the US and continental Europe as well as social work academics in the UK have been at the forefront of theoretical engagement with the role of religion, and indeed spirituality, in their subject areas. Social policy scholarship in the UK offers only cursory mention of the Christian Socialist movement or 19th-century religious voluntary activity.

• Religion in social policy is more than just about the mixed economy of welfare or faith-based organisations; it can provide a radical starting point for rethinking the nature of social welfare and, to a certain extent, the economic system. However, some authors argue that a religious perspective on social welfare favours an emphasis on moral obligations and social order over universal rights and emancipation.

• Religious perspectives on welfare challenge reductionist utilitarian notions of wellbeing by advocating an holistic understanding of human beings based on their innate agency and dignity, and the broader moral dimensions of the social relationships which determine their wellbeing. These resonate with secular arguments about the need to maintain the moral purpose of contemporary social policy and the ‘social value’1 with human interactions. The term ways of being is proposed as a way of moving beyond narrow material conceptions of wellbeing or welfare.