How hard is it to just pray on your own fucking time?

[devogue]

Here's the exact post:

I went to a shop today and bought a packet of Walker's smokey bacon crisps, a Fry's Chocolate Cream and a packet of hazelnut choc chip cookies, for my afternoon cup of tea at work.

As I was queuing for the till a fat headed old priest looked me up and down with disgust and started blabbering on about gluttony, and "Our lord says this and that blah di blah".

I couldn't believe my ears as this man started sermonising me for a about two minutes in front of a bunch of smiling cretins who were obviously his parisioners. This happened in a very small village in the west of Ireland, so while it may seem surreal, I can assure you that the Catholic church is still strong enough here for this sort of thing to happen.

I don't know why I let him go on so long, but at the end of it I just said, "You'd think by your age you would have grown out of worshipping fairies and leprechauns, you old cunt."

This didn't go down to well with the locals and I ended up being screamed from the shop, someone gve me a fly kick up the arse and I was hit on the head by a packet of cream crackers. It might sound funny, but at the time it wasn't.

I'm still shaking - do I get a badge or something?

There's a bit of a difference between that priest and your woman.

[maiforpeace]

Here's the exact post:

I went to a shop today and bought a packet of Walker's smokey bacon crisps, a Fry's Chocolate Cream and a packet of hazelnut choc chip cookies, for my afternoon cup of tea at work.

As I was queuing for the till a fat headed old priest looked me up and down with disgust and started blabbering on about gluttony, and "Our lord says this and that blah di blah".

I couldn't believe my ears as this man started sermonising me for a about two minutes in front of a bunch of smiling cretins who were obviously his parisioners. This happened in a very small village in the west of Ireland, so while it may seem surreal, I can assure you that the Catholic church is still strong enough here for this sort of thing to happen.

I don't know why I let him go on so long, but at the end of it I just said, "You'd think by your age you would have grown out of worshipping fairies and leprechauns, you old cunt."

This didn't go down to well with the locals and I ended up being screamed from the shop, someone gve me a fly kick up the arse and I was hit on the head by a packet of cream crackers. It might sound funny, but at the time it wasn't.

I'm still shaking - do I get a badge or something?

There's a bit of a difference between that priest and your woman.

There is a big difference, but they are still forms of bullying, hers is just way more subtle. For her to track down this family and go to their home and offer to pray for the child is stalking and also a form of bullying. She deserves the suspension while the manager/employer decides what to do, which, in my opinion is ultimately their decision anyway. Whatever they decide, they will be criticized. I think it's curious that the woman complains of the 'black points' being suspended and let go from her job could do for her employment record. I mean, wouldn't you explain to your new employer what happened? If you are so sure what you are doing is alright, then what's the problem?

[Rum]

Dev, Suppose she had been a 'witch' and offered to cast a spell on her which might help her get better. Would you feel OK about that?

[Horwood Beer-Master]

I've just noticed there was something in the original article I'd missed before, but I think is highly significant,

...In February a community nurse, Caroline Petrie, also from Weston-super-Mare and a friend of Olive Jones, was suspended from her job for offering to pray for a patient...

O RLY? So these two knew each other did they? Can anyone else smell 'agenda'?

What's the betting that these two went about their daily business constantly pushing their faith in people's faces in any way they could? What's the betting that they were quite deliberately trying to get themselves into trouble this way?
I wouldn't be surprised if they had talked to each other about this kind of thing long before either of them actually managed to get themselves martyred. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if there was some christian 'group' behind this whole thing.
Don't you find it funny that both of their story's got blabbed to the press while they were still at the stage of "suspended pending investigation"? Most people would wait for the outcome of such an investigation against them before they went running to the media.


These two cases must surely be connected, and whole thing reeks of bullshit! There is a fuck-of-a-lot going on here we haven't been told.

[FBM]

She's a maths teacher. She has precisely zero business straying off course into religion or (say) politics. If the shoe was on the other foot, she'd be amongst the first to complain.

Let's send JimC over to her church meeting. In the midst of it, he'll take the floor and start teaching quadratic equations.

[Sisifo]

Without antecedents of similar behavour, and if there was no previous warning or request from the parents to avoid religious talks, I believe this is uncalled for.
When someone says or does something inappropiate, you give a warning, not fire or suspend. If they reiterate, yeah, you fire the person.

The attitude towards her seems extremist.

[devogue]

Dev, Suppose she had been a 'witch' and offered to cast a spell on her which might help her get better. Would you feel OK about that?

1) Personally, I would think "Okaaaaaaaaaay - kooky woman, but hey, whatever whets your whistle...do your little mad spell..." The most important thing would be that at the end of her teaching time my child understood the mathematics she had been taught. It takes all sorts to make the world go round, but as long as they can function with the job they are being paid for and they aren't explicitly indoctrinating anyone, I don't really care. I would far rather have a "good witch" who casts nice "spells" and teaches maths brilliantly than an atheist who is shit at teaching maths. It's worth tolerating.

2) You are equating "witchcraft" and "casting spells" with Christianity. You are of course correct in a woo sense, but Christianity is deeply ingrained in the cultural and social landscape here in a way that witchcraft isn't so your equating the two is wrong.

[Rum]

Dev, Suppose she had been a 'witch' and offered to cast a spell on her which might help her get better. Would you feel OK about that?

1) Personally, I would think "Okaaaaaaaaaay - kooky woman, but hey, whatever whets your whistle...do your little mad spell..." The most important thing would be that at the end of her teaching time my child understood the mathematics she had been taught. It takes all sorts to make the world go round, but as long as they can function with the job they are being paid for and they aren't explicitly indoctrinating anyone, I don't really care. I would far rather have a "good witch" who casts nice "spells" and teaches maths brilliantly than an atheist who is shit at teaching maths. It's worth tolerating.

2) You are equating "witchcraft" and "casting spells" with Christianity. You are of course correct in a woo sense, but Christianity is deeply ingrained in the cultural and social landscape here in a way that witchcraft isn't so your equating the two is wrong.

Hmm..of course she *could* have been a fundy Muslim and whispered that the infidels must die and it was their fault she was sick..

..the point being that it simply does not belong in that context. However I tend to agree that it was hardly first degree murder.

[Horwood Beer-Master]

Without antecedents of similar behaviour, and if there was no previous warning or request from the parents to avoid religious talks, I believe this is uncalled for...

I'm willing to bet there was previous similar behavour (see my above post). I reckon she was almost literally asking for it, she wanted 'martyrdom' (just like her nurse friend).


And, of course, while she feels free to blab to the press, her employers (who probably have rules and regulations restricting what they can say) can only confirm - "A complaint has been made by a parent regarding Olive. This complaint is being investigated. To complete the investigation we need to speak to Olive and we have offered her a number of dates so this can happen. At the moment we are waiting for her to let us know which date is convenient for her".

That's it. That's all they can say and she knows it! If they did give any more details to the press, she'd probably have grounds to sue.




Wake up and smell the horseshit people! Unless you're willing to believe it to be a pure coincidence that these two high-profile 'praying at work martyrs' Olive Jones and Caroline Petrie were friends with each other, than you surely have to begin to suspect some funny-business here.

[devogue]

Without antecedents of similar behaviour, and if there was no previous warning or request from the parents to avoid religious talks, I believe this is uncalled for...

I'm willing to bet there was previous similar behavour (see my above post). I reckon she was almost literally asking for it, she wanted 'martyrdom' (just like her nurse friend).


And, of course, while she feels free to blab to the press, her employers (who probably have rules and regulations restricting what they can say) can only confirm - "A complaint has been made by a parent regarding Olive. This complaint is being investigated. To complete the investigation we need to speak to Olive and we have offered her a number of dates so this can happen. At the moment we are waiting for her to let us know which date is convenient for her".

That's it. That's all they can say and she knows it! If they did give any more details to the press, she'd probably have grounds to sue.




Wake up and smell the horseshit people! Unless you're willing to believe it to be a pure coincidence that these two high-profile 'praying at work martyrs' Olive Jones and Caroline Petrie were friends with each other, than you surely have to begin to suspect some funny-business here.

I agree with all of this completely, as the post script to my first post makes clear. However, if the story was exactly as it was reported then I stand by my opinion.

I just think it's extremely fishy that she is friends with Petrie and that the two of them have now made national headlines.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

As someone that has worked as a private tutor, and is waiting for a CRB check to get back into it, I can tell you that any complaint of impropriety by a parent or child will result in suspension pending an investigation. There are numerous horror stories about tutors whose careers were ruined by one allegation.

This is nowhere like as serious an allegation as sexual assault, etc. but a complaint was made and must be investigated.

I can't see that a formal complaint would have been raised if she had merely mentioned her faith and been told by the parent to drop it, as is hinted at in the article. Obviously the full details are not known but I would imagine that, either, Ms. Jones was over-enthusiastic and insistent in her prosyletising, or, she spoke to the child alone and the child was sufficiently upset by what they were told for the parent to raise the matter.

Add to this the fact that Jones has gone to the press prior to even attending a hearing about the complaint and I am afraid that I have little sympathy with her.

[Horwood Beer-Master]

...Add to this the fact that Jones has gone to the press prior to even attending a hearing about the complaint and I am afraid that I have little sympathy with her.

As I indicated before, it's probably deliberate that she went to the press at this stage rather than waiting to see how things play out.

After all, if the result of the hearing was that she was reinstated with no further action taken, she would have missed her moment of martyrdom.
Think about it, the story "Teacher suspended after prayer but subsiquently found to have done no wrong gets her job back" is not even going to make-it into the Daily Mail in the first place, still less get a preachy little editorial (and oh yes, she got her preachy little editorial!).


THIS WOMAN KNEW EXACTLY WHAT SHE WAS DOING.

[Feck]

why Pray for the child ......Our All knowing,All loving God should not need to be begged for on the kids behalf ...Unless ..................

Xians they just don't think much do they ?

[Pappa]

why Pray for the child ......Our All knowing,All loving God should not need to be begged for on the kids behalf ...Unless ..................

Xians they just don't think much do they ?

I don't understand praying anyway. If God does everything right all the time, surely praying isn't going to make him change is mind? It would involve admitting her was wrong first, right?

[Pappa]

and oh yes, she got her preachy little editorial!).

I'm sorry, I couldn't make it past the first paragraph without getting violently angry.