These kind of stories are appearing with greater regularity in the UK papers: A Christian discusses his or her faith with a colleague, or offers to pray with a patient—and gets the sack and/or is put through the job discipline ringer. (Here’s an example from just a month ago.) The latest involves a Christian mental health care worker said to colleague that she thought there was a pro abortion bias in the NHS. Off with here metaphorical head! From the Telegraph story:
A Christian mental health worker has been sacked after passing colleagues a booklet warning of the physical and psychological damage some women suffer after an abortion. Margaret Forrester discussed the booklet with family planning staff at the health centre where she worked because she felt that the NHS was failing to give patients information about the risks and other options to terminating a pregnancy.
But after a six-month disciplinary process, during which Ms Forrester had to fight her own case and became ill, she was found guilty of “gross professional misconduct” and fired. She has spoken out over the “scandal” of the pro-abortion culture in the medical profession and claimed that Christians were “an easy target” for “politically correct” bureaucrats in the NHS. “The NHS has a pro-abortion stance which comes from a secular religion. It is a belief system which is aggressively anti-Christian,” she said
I read the UK papers every day: Forrester’s charge seems hard to deny—and in areas outside of our scope here, as well.
Think about it: If she had been a Muslim and gave a track to her colleague saying that Islam has the answer to proper sexuality and the issue of abortion—or, if she had said that the ban on late term abortions in the UK was ridiculous and handed out Peter Singer’s Practical Ethics as the proper approach to health care policy—no way she would have been fired. It’s the expression of Christian belief that the NHS poobahs are targeting.
The bureaucrats said she was sacked for refusing to accept her no role:
The ultimate reason for her dismissal was her refusal to work in a new role in a different mental health team, to which she was transferred as a disciplinary measure. Ms Forrester accepted the job verbally but claimed she was give insufficient information and lacked training.
Even if that is true, she received the new role as a punishment for expressing Christian faith and pro life sentiments—again to a colleague. And they put “gross professional misconduct” on her records to make sure she can’t get a similar job again. That’ll teach her for expressing her beliefs!
The UK prides itself on tolerance for diversity and multiculturalism. But if a woman can’t mention her faith and beliefs about abortion to a colleague—remember, this wasn’t to a patient—without fear of job loss or punishment, then the supposed tolerance doesn’t apply to Christians. And why are people so weak that they can’t handle a Christian espousing her faith?
This also shows the danger of centralized bureaucratized control over health care. One thought size fits all!
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