Clergy Malpractice in America
, by Weitz, Mark A.- ISBN: 9780700611263 | 0700611266
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 10/1/2001
Can faith-based counselors be held to the same standard of legal accountability as secular ones? Or does the broad shield of religious freedom protect them absolutely, no matter how incompetent or negligent their actions might be? After Kenneth Nally put a shotgun to his head and pulled the trigger in early 1979, finding the right answers to those questions became both much more urgent and much more difficult. Mark Weitz shows why.
Following his suicide, Nally's parents filed a wrongful death suit against their son's fundamentalist church, alleging that its pastoral counselors had failed to steer him toward the professional help they thought he needed and even dissuaded him from seeking secular help. The resulting legal case lasted nearly a decade, alarmed church leaders of every faith, and transformed judicial thought in this highly sensitive area of American life.
Nally v. Grace Community Church of the Valley was the nation's first case to allege "clergy malpractice", one that challenged the freedom of religious leaders to counsel their parishioners. Init