MAIL Online: In our allegedly multicultural society, there is one religious group which is apparently not to be afforded equal respect, let alone treated for what it embodies - the foundational creed of this nation. That group is Britain’s Christians.
Somerset community nurse and committed Christian Caroline Petrie has been suspended and faces being sacked and even struck off for offering to say a prayer for an elderly patient. Although startled, the patient - herself a Christian - did not make a complaint and was in no way offended.
Nevertheless Mrs Petrie’s boss wrote to her saying she was required to uphold the reputation of her profession - which apparently means demonstrating ‘a personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity’ and not using her professional status ‘to promote causes that are not related to health’.
Apparently, Mrs Petrie previously received a warning about promoting her faith at work after she offered to give a prayer card to an elderly male patient.
Now there may be a valid point here about professionalism. Offering prayer cards comes close to touting one’s faith, which might well be thought inappropriate on the wards. But even so, one would have thought that a quiet word in the nurse’s ear would have been all that was necessary. Instead, Mrs Petrie was packed off to an ‘equality’ course for some diversity training.
This Orwellian response has now been followed up by the draconian action of suspending her with the possibility of outright dismissal from her job simply because she offered to pray for another patient.
Suspension and dismissal are sanctions to be used for mistreating or neglecting patients. Yet here they are being used against a nurse for offering to bring a patient a form of spiritual solace - which the patient was able easily to refuse and which caused her no problem. Is this not an utterly idiotic over-reaction?
I am a Jew; but when my mother was in the last stages of her terminal illness she was cared for by deeply devout Christian nurses who regularly prayed for her. Far from being offended by this, I was touched and comforted by this signal that they cared so much about her.
Moreover, this is not actually about upholding professionalism in nursing. It is all about foisting upon nursing the sinister and politically correct ‘diversity’ agenda – which means in effect treating Christianity as inherently offensive. >>> Melanie Phillips | Tuesday, February 3, 2009
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