UK teacher sacked for offering to pray

A Christian teacher in England has lost her job after discussing her faith with a mother and her sick child and offering to pray for them.

After she was sacked, Olive Jones, 54, was told the family had strongly objected to her approach because they are non-believers, and that a formal complaint had been lodged about her reports the Telegraph.

As Mrs Jones only worked 12 hours a week and had no formal contract, her job with the North Somerset Tuition Service in Nailsea, near Bristol, ended with immediate effect.

Jones lost her job after making her sixth visit to the GCSE Maths student.

"I told the girl and her mother that there were people praying for them, and I asked the child if I could pray for her. She looked at her mother, who said: 'We come from a family who do not believe' so I did not pray."

Mrs Jones thought she left the family's home on good terms but hours later was summoned to a meeting with her superiors.

"I had never experienced anything like this before. I had a faultless record stretching back 20 years."

She was told the mother had complained that both she and her daughter were distressed by her testimony about miracles and her offer of saying a prayer and as a result they no longer wanted her as a tutor in their home.

In a meeting with her superiors Jones was told that her services were no longer required effective immediately.

Jones says she doesn't "push my beliefs down other people's throats", and apologises for any unintentional distress" that she may have caused.

However, she says she was made to feel "like a criminal" and claims that Christians are being persecuted in the name of "political correctness".

- NZ HERALD STAFF