A row has broken out over guidelines on NHS workers discussing religion with patients and colleagues, as a nurse suspended for offering to pray for a patient was asked to return to work.
Caroline Petrie, 45, a Baptist from Weston-super-Mare, was accused of failing to show a commitment to equality and diversity after the incident. But NHS North Somerset primary care trust said yesterday that Petrie was welcome to return.
Tory MP Patrick Cormack, a committed Anglican, told parliament that Petrie's suspension highlighted the "utter absurdities" of political correctness.
It has emerged that NHS guidelines on religion in the workplace were published last month. A Department of Health spokeswoman said the document, Religion or Belief: A Practical Guide for the NHS, was written in response to feedback from trusts seeking consultation. She said it discouraged attempts to "preach and to convert", because they could "cause many problems, as non-religious people and those from other religions or beliefs could feel harassed and intimidated".
A spokeswoman for the public sector union Unison said: "We're pleased that Caroline Petrie has been welcomed back to work. The suspension was overly harsh, but it is an important reminder for nurses, and people in the public services more generally, that they must be sensitive to the diverse beliefs of the people they serve."
Indarjit Singh, editor of the Sikh Messenger, said suspending Petrie, a community nurse who carries out home visits in North Somerset, was an "overreaction" and "poor judgment on the part of the hospital".
But Singh said the real issue was adjusting to the times in Britain, a society in which non-Christian religious groups have their own religious sensitivities. "Some people feel they have had to adjust too much," he said. "I understand the feeling but we all have to adjust – change has come from both sides."
Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the Secular Society, said the trust had been right to suspend Petrie, on the basis that she had been warned on a previous occasion following an incident in which she had offered a patient a prayer card.
"There's an important practical issue here," he said. "Entering people's houses and offering to pray for them makes it excruciatingly embarrassing for them to say no. They may fear it will sour the relationship."
He said bringing religion into working environments was divisive. He expressed concern about an increase in recent years of "aggressive legal work done by Christian lawyers seeking to undermine secularity in the workplace".
Sociology professor Tariq Modood, a Bristol University researcher into ethnic and religious minorities, expressed sympathy with supporters of Petrie and critics of the report. "Faith-centric Christians are effectively a minority in British society, where one is expected to keep religious beliefs quiet," he said. "They have seen the gains made by minority religions and are asking, why is the state so harsh on us?"
He added: "Any form of conversion activity when people are ill and vulnerable is misguided, and patients need to be protected from that."
Caroline Petrie, 45, a Baptist from Weston-super-Mare, was accused of failing to show a commitment to equality and diversity after the incident. But NHS North Somerset primary care trust said yesterday that Petrie was welcome to return.
Tory MP Patrick Cormack, a committed Anglican, told parliament that Petrie's suspension highlighted the "utter absurdities" of political correctness.
It has emerged that NHS guidelines on religion in the workplace were published last month. A Department of Health spokeswoman said the document, Religion or Belief: A Practical Guide for the NHS, was written in response to feedback from trusts seeking consultation. She said it discouraged attempts to "preach and to convert", because they could "cause many problems, as non-religious people and those from other religions or beliefs could feel harassed and intimidated".
A spokeswoman for the public sector union Unison said: "We're pleased that Caroline Petrie has been welcomed back to work. The suspension was overly harsh, but it is an important reminder for nurses, and people in the public services more generally, that they must be sensitive to the diverse beliefs of the people they serve."
Indarjit Singh, editor of the Sikh Messenger, said suspending Petrie, a community nurse who carries out home visits in North Somerset, was an "overreaction" and "poor judgment on the part of the hospital".
But Singh said the real issue was adjusting to the times in Britain, a society in which non-Christian religious groups have their own religious sensitivities. "Some people feel they have had to adjust too much," he said. "I understand the feeling but we all have to adjust – change has come from both sides."
Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the Secular Society, said the trust had been right to suspend Petrie, on the basis that she had been warned on a previous occasion following an incident in which she had offered a patient a prayer card.
"There's an important practical issue here," he said. "Entering people's houses and offering to pray for them makes it excruciatingly embarrassing for them to say no. They may fear it will sour the relationship."
He said bringing religion into working environments was divisive. He expressed concern about an increase in recent years of "aggressive legal work done by Christian lawyers seeking to undermine secularity in the workplace".
Sociology professor Tariq Modood, a Bristol University researcher into ethnic and religious minorities, expressed sympathy with supporters of Petrie and critics of the report. "Faith-centric Christians are effectively a minority in British society, where one is expected to keep religious beliefs quiet," he said. "They have seen the gains made by minority religions and are asking, why is the state so harsh on us?"
He added: "Any form of conversion activity when people are ill and vulnerable is misguided, and patients need to be protected from that."
