Olive Jones, a Christian supply teacher from Weston-super-Mare, sacked for offering prayer able to return to work
Previous post here.
Olive Jones, a Christian supply teacher from Weston-super-Mare, has been offered the opportunity to return to her old job after North Somerset Council recognised that it can be appropriate for a tutor to share their faith with a pupil or a family, depending on the situation.
Mrs Jones, 54, was dismissed in November 2009 after attending a meeting with her employers who had received a complaint from a parent that Olive had shared her faith with a sick pupil and asked the pupil’s mother whether she could pray for the pupil.
Mrs Jones was devastated at the decision made on 25 November, particularly as she was a highly regarded teacher and enjoyed a good relationship with the pupil and her family. She said that the decision was ‘completely disproportionate’ and that it made her feel as though she had committed a crime.
No formal investigations were undertaken before the meeting to clarify what had happened at the pupil’s home.
As a result of intervention by the Christian Legal Centre and extensive media coverage, the Council arranged to meet Olive in the New Year. On Tuesday 19 January, Olive attended a meeting where she told the Council that she had not been present at a meeting where the family concerned had said that they did not wish to discuss faith matters, and that this information had not been relayed to her by colleagues. Olive therefore had no idea that her offer to pray for the pupil was unacceptable to the family and would result in a complaint.
After hearing that Olive had been unaware of the family’s wishes, the Council affirmed that it valued Olive’s skills and offered her the opportunity to return to work.
Tags: News
March 6th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
If you check out the story a bit more you’ll find that Olive Jones was never sacked and therefore couldn’t be reinstated. She was suspended and has been reinstated on the basis that she has “agreed to respect a family’s wishes or guidance from a manager before discussing matters of faith.”
http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/4998632.Teacher_suspended_for_prayer_offer_can_return_to_work/ also: http://www.bobpiper.co.uk/2009/12/disgraceful_pavolovian_attack.php
The Christian Legal Centre appears to have a mission to create conflict and an impression of persecution where none exists. There’s an article on it at http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/blog/jonathan_bartley/olive_jones
“Another case of the Christian Legal Centre making things worse it seems, with the misleading claim in a press release that a Christian teacher has been sacked for offering to pray for a sick girl.”
“Such complaints are going to continue to happen, as they did in the case of the nurse Caroline Petrie who incidently knows and prays with Olive Jones (interesting coincidence isn’t it?). ”
An article in the family’s local paper, the Bristol Evening Post, explains why they were so angry: “Paddy and Stephanie Lynch say maths tutor Olive Jones knew they were a “non-religious” family and that their 14-year-old daughter was “distressed” when she talked to her about heaven in visits to their home.
Mrs Lynch, of Clevedon, said yesterday: “My daughter has leukaemia and has not been to school this academic year. The local authority provide a tutoring service so that my daughter doesn’t fall too far behind her classmates.
“Mrs Jones was employed to teach maths but used every opportunity to discuss religion, despite the fact I made it clear we were a non-religious family and didn’t want to talk about these issues in this way. On one occasion she asked my daughter to pray with her. My daughter was distressed by this behaviour.
“On another, after the death of my daughter’s close friend, Mrs Jones told my 14-year-old daughter that when young people die they go to heaven. These conversations upset my daughter deeply. The sessions with Mrs Jones became increasingly traumatic and we decided it was not appropriate for this woman to come to my home.” ”
The link for this quote is: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/homepage/Tutor-s-religious-talk-distressed-daughter/article-1634840-detail/article.html
I would be – and was – happy and felt hugely supported when people prayed for us when my husband was dying. But then I’m a believer and pray myself.
I have a close friend who is a fierce atheist. I know her views. I respect her position. She would find someone praying for her in her home or in her presence extremely offensive. I’m a Christian but I can easily see why. If someone in her family were critically ill that would worsen matters considerably.
There is absolutely no reason why Olive Jones shouldn’t have prayed for the child and the family to her heart’s content – on her own time and secretly. Works just as well, indeed it’s preferable.
It wasn’t her faith that got this teacher into trouble, but her appalling manners and her lack of respect for this family. She was in their house to teach maths, not proselytise. How would Olive Jones have felt if the positions were reversed and an aggressive atheist attacked the beliefs of her desperately sick child in their home?
March 6th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Fair points Sophie.
I have written before on UK Christian “persecution” or “persecution complex”.
http://blog.echurchwebsites.org.uk/2010/01/19/christian-nadia-eweida-appealing-ruling-cleared-british-airways-discriminating-stop-wearing-cross-work/
I worry at times about groups like CCFON.
March 6th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Good blog post, webmaster. The Nadia Eweida case seemed all about creating an impression of persecution which wasn’t really there – which is why it failed.
I get a strong whiff of self-righteous pugnacity from both these supposedly Christian women. I am devoutly grateful that I don’t to work with either of them.
The terms of Olive Jone’s reinstatement make it clear that if she oversteps professional boundaries again she will be sacked. And rightly so.
March 6th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
@webmaster: Blimey, I’ve just looked up CCFON. I knew about the Christian Law Centre but not about CCFON. It’s scary, scary stuff. I see what you mean.
March 6th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Apparently, some of these groups are backed by US interests, which tells you something.