Woman Is Fired From Christian School For Having Premarital Sex With Her Husband

[filkertom]

'Cause she's a fornicator. I'm not kidding. Newlywed Jarretta Hamilton, an elementary school teacher in her late 30s at Southland Christian School in Florida, went to her supervisors last year to be congratulated on her pregnancy and request maternity leave. But things took an unexpected turn when administrators asked just when, exactly, did

Comments

[umbran]

While a crappy situation, this is part of what being in a free country is. "Free," doesn't equate to, "you don't get to do what I find offensive or unreasonable". We all get to make choices, and they sometimes have repercussions.

She was working for a "Christian" school. Did she have any reason to believe that this school did anything other than hold the teachers to a specific high standard of behavior? I won't be at all surprised if her contract held clauses to cover such. Fully informed, she chose to work for them, and then gave them personal information.

[alverant]

What if she was raped? (She wasn't, but this is all hypothetical.) The bible does not recognize the idea of a woman consenting to have sex. Sex outside of marriage is a sin in christianity, whether you had it willingly or not.

[umbran]

Whatifwhatifhatif. What you're suggesting here is akin to the Fallacy of Sweeping Generalization.

She wasn't raped. The school didn't make it's decision based on her being raped. We have only assumption that they'd rule the same way in both cases. That assumption is not valid based upon present data (at least, as available to me), so your question is not relevant.

[alverant]

I did say "what if" meaning that the proposed situation is different than the real one. I would say the hypothetical question is relevant since we would be taking "choice" out of the equation. In real life, the woman chose to have sex. In my hypothetical she did not. So would she be fired over something she had no choice about?

[joyful]

Now, I admit that I don't like the idea of what happened. However, as somebody who went to a Christian school, most religious institutions require both faculty and students to sign a morality contract or a cod of conduct agreement at the start of each school year. While I don't know the details of this specific case, if she signed one, than the school was within its rights to fire her.

I personally find the school's behavior morally objectionable (Christianity is about forgiveness), I doubt they have done anything illegal.

I also think the situation could have been handled a lot better. And I'd just like to add that honesty does not always mean the same thing as full disclosure.

[shekkara]

Funny how that forgiveness message is so often conveniently forgotten.

[talonvaki]

If I were her, I'd have said, "We conceived on our honeymoon! Isn't that romantic?" And then, when the baby was born, claim it was slightly early. I was born 3 weeks early, and my parents had been married for 4 years at the time.

There are times I am very pleased to be a dual citizen...if the US gets too insane, I have another option.

Although, looking at the MSNBC story, I wonder if there isn't something about this that's related to the fact that they are an interracial couple. This is the South we're talking about.

[alverant]

I noticed that too. Also how many male teachers did they fire for the same reason?

[talonvaki]

Good point!

[braider]

They don't have to pay men for maternity leave.

[shockwave77598]

All she had to do is say "None of your business." Which it wasn't...

[alverant]

Makes you look suspicious though, like you got something to hide.

[starcat_jewel]

That meme is always floated by people who want to pry into other people's business. "If you're not doing anything wrong, why don't you just SAY so?" This can be turned back against them by countering with, "If you don't have a hidden agenda here, why are you being so nosy?"

Miss Manners has the perfect answer

[capplor]

When asked something entirely too personal, affect shock that they could be asking, as dramatically as necessary to embarrass them. This also covers you against a charge of lying about the answer (though I myself would have no inhibitions against lying on subjects that are my own business.)

[tigertoy]

When you get down to it, the school has a point. Christian schools (at least the sort of Christian schools that would do this as a matter of policy) exist to brainwash, oh, excuse me, to inculcate morals in their children. Having a teacher who was openly violating those morals would in fact, undermine the message.

This is why Christian schools should not be allowed to exist.

[tcgtrf]

Phil, *all* schools exist to inculcate what the instructors wish to do, something that the students and their parents can do in half the time, a quarter the cost, and an eighth the hassle.

Knock 'em all to the ground and sow it with salt so they don't come back.

Tom, do you really want us to get into the business of forcing individuals to do things against their moral code? Who's going to yank the burkas off of women or hold a gun to the head of doctors and pharmacists, the cops? Next they'll have lions in Wrigley Field.

Tom T.

[tigertoy]

In the America I grew up believing in, which to my sorrow I increasingly understand never existed and certainly doesn't today, public schools existed to make sure the next generation was ready to participate in the democratic process so that that America could continue. They had two imperatives: to make sure that everyone grew up with enough of a common experience that they identified as being the same society, and to teach them to actually *think* for themselves, specifically about the decisions of who they'd vote for. Religious schools actively work against both of those imperatives: they divide people, and they actively teach people to just do what they're told rather than to think about why they do it

[tcgtrf]

You going to be at Duck? I'll be free to wave my arms around and holler other than during the day on Saturday.

After seeing Khan University in action--proving to me that one individual, properly motivated, can do more than ten thousand overpaid teachers--I've come to the conclusion that the Prussian educational model that we fell prey to in the 1840s is not only obsolete, but dangerous for the 21st Century.

Even WBBM is now agreeing with me that attending *college* is no longer a profitable game plan.

We'll talk.

Tom T