Telegraph.co.uk
Caroline Gammell
11 Feb 2009
Mrs Cain sent a private email to close
friends to ask for prayers for her daughter after she was called into the
school where she worked in Crediton,
Her daughter Jasmine had been
overheard by a teacher discussing heaven and God with a friend and had been
pulled to one side and told off.
Mrs Cain contacted 10 close friends from her
church by email but the message fell into the hands of Gary Read, the
headmaster of
The 38-year-old mother of two is
now being investigated for professional misconduct for allegedly making claims
against the school and its staff.
Mrs Cain has been told she may be disciplined
and was warned she could face dismissal.
Her case is being supported by
the Christian Institute who said Mrs Cain was the
latest example of a Christian being persecuted by society.
Last week, nurse
Caroline Petrie was told she could go back to work having been suspended for
two months for offering to pray for a patient.
Yesterday, Mrs
Cain said both her daughter and son were confused about what to say about their
faith.
She told The Daily Telegraph:
"I think there is something about what I represent, about what the three
of us represent.
"This action that has been
taken against me, how it has escalated, how trapped I feel – it is
overwhelming.
"The speed at which it has
got to a place where I am being investigated for misconduct and could be
dismissed, it is shocking."
Mrs Cain, who has worked part-time at the
school for two and a half years, describes herself as a "quiet
Christian" who would never force her beliefs on others.
But she said she was angry about
the way she had been treated: "I felt embarrassed that a private prayer email
was read by the school – it felt like someone had gone through my personal
prayer diary.
"I feel my beliefs are so
central to who I am, are such a part of my children's life.
"I do feel our beliefs
haven't been respected and I don't feel I have been treated fairly. I don't
know what I am supposed to have done wrong."
On January 22, Mrs Cain went to pick up her children from the 275-strong
primary school.
"My daughter burst into
tears, her face was all red and she was clearly upset.
"She said 'my teacher told
me I couldn't talk about Jesus' – I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"She said she was taken
aside in the classroom and told she couldn't say that. I was so shocked, I didn't know what to do."
Mrs Cain said she decided to wait until she
wasn't working to discuss the issue with the teacher Sharon Gottelier
as a parent rather than an employee.
But she was called into Mr Read's office the next day over another matter before he
started discussing Jasmine.
"He started talking about my
daughter about how he wasn't happy about her making statements about her faith.
"At that point I froze, I
felt very small and I felt trapped as I was a junior member of staff."
That weekend, she emailed a
prayer request from her personal computer at home to 10 trusted friends from
her church.
"I asked them to please pray
for us, please pray for Jasmine, please pray for the school and pray for the
church."
A few days later she was called
back into Mr Read's office.
"I didn't think at this
point I could be more stunned. He had in his hand a copy of my private,
personal email and it was highlighted all the way through.
"He said that he was going
to investigate me for professional misconduct because I had been making
allegations about the school and staff to members of the public."
Mrs Cain, who was not suspended, said he
refused to tell her where he had got the email but said two independent
governors would be taking statements and calling witnesses.
"He said the investigation
could be followed by disciplinary action up to and including dismissal because
of this private email."
Mrs Cain said she still did not know how Mr Read came into possession of the email but she said the
school was sending mixed messages by allowing carols at Christmas and
celebrating the Hindu festival of divali.
"If my children can go to
school and sing a song which mentions Jesus, how are they meant to know that
they are then not allowed to talk about God?"
Mike Judge, from the Christian
Institute, said children should be allowed to discuss religion with each other
without interference from teachers.
"This is the latest in a
series where Christians are being persecuted for their religious beliefs.
"It is really getting to a
point where it has to stop. I think the Government has got to start looking at
its legislation.
"Christians are in the
firing line, not other minority groups."
Mr Read said: "An investigation by the
governors of the school is being held into the conduct of a member of staff and
at this stage I cannot comment any further."
As The Daily Telegraph disclosed
on Monday, teachers now face being disciplined if they discuss their religious
beliefs in school.
The profession's regulator, the
General Teaching Council, has drawn up a new code of practice that states
classroom staff must "promote equality and value diversity".
It was an alleged lack of
commitment to this requirement that was used to suspend Mrs
Petrie.