REBT with Specific Religious Groups

This final chapter summarizes the distinctive beliefs and practices of the dominant religious groups in the United States today. Several examples of religiously oriented IBs for each religious group are offered as a means of highlighting the way clients with specific religious worldviews may express irrational philosophies. Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism are discussed. Although REBTers may encounter clients from other religious faiths, this will probably be rare. Further, familiarity with the major religious traditions discussed in this chapter may provide the REBT therapist with a solid foundation from which to treat clients from small or unfamiliar religious communities.