06.02.09

Prayer for an angry sister

Posted in News, People, Rants at 4:20 pm by alby

Right then, the praying nurse.  What do we think?

Everything about this story is bogus.  It was put together by a “concerned” group of christian lawyers whose avowed aim seems to be to paint christians as victims as often as they possibly can in the national media.  And reported mainly by the Mail which is trying to do the same.

The actual situation as far as I can gather it from various internets.

The nurse in question is a bank nurse.  In other words she comes in to help out when the local services need the odd extra hand for whatever reason.  The trust simply said they weren’t going to use her whilst an investigation was on-going – seems reasonable to me.

The actual incident – she asked an elderly patient if they would mind if she prayed for them.  Said patient wrote to the trust saying that they didn’t mind but it’s a bit odd and maybe someone should have a word with her just in case she asked someone who really did mind one day.

So far so good.  No complaint, no offence taken yet.

The crux though is that she’s got form.  She had done it before and been complained about before.  She’d been taken to one side and asked not to do it.

So what do the management do?  She’s been asked nicely, she ignored the request.  Some form of tedious martyrdom complex or just an idiot?

Anyways the Mail is happy as she’s got her job back (not that she ever lost it).  I would assume it’s been re-iterated to her to keep her faith to herself rather than foisting it on weak and vulnerable people.  In other words where she was before she waved her pants around on national media to get some sympathy for her non-existant cause.

I always thought the Mail was FOR people following the rules rather than just doing what they want regardless of how other people may feel about it.

But perhaps I’m a loony-left PC do-gooder.

So what would I think if a medic offered to pray for me?

Firstly I’d think, I’d rather you do something useful. 

Second I’d remember that those who know someone is praying for them have been demonstrated to have worse outcomes than those who don’t know or aren’t being prayed for. 

Thirdly I’d think, “blimey it must be serious” – and we know that mental health is vital to dealing with serious illness well. 

Fourthly I’d think “If I say what I think, will I continue to get her best ministrations?”

And finally I’d think – I thought medicine was now supposed to be evidence based, where the staff know what works and what doesn’t – I wonder if the nurse has the nous to actually know a damn thing about what IS helpful for this problem.

But apparently all that just makes me intolerant.  Whereas her being offended at the statement of my beliefs, and those of an awful lot of others (I’d hate to see what reaction one or two members of my family would have been had it been them involved), is a perfectly rational reaction and one that deserves sympathy.

And I’d love to know what her reaction would be if a pagan nurse offered to sacrifice a virgin for her (again I doubt that would be portrayed in quite the same sympathetic way by the media, despite both being as valid a method of dealing with physical illness as the other).

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