Christian School Teacher Placed On Leave Due To Premarital Pregnancy

[Hissyspit]

Christian school teacher in Mich. placed on leave due to premarital sex

BERRIEN SPRINGS, Mich. (AP) - A kindergarten teacher at a private Christian elementary school is on paid administrative leave until her contract expires because she became pregnant before getting married. Christine John, 24, said school officials told her that premarital sex is strictly forbidden by the school system and the Seventh-day Adventist religion. She's considering legal action.

NO LINK

[coloradodem2005]

1. Love how they try to control every aspect of life.

:eyes:

[funflower]

2. Go teach in the public system.

It pays better anyway.

[RayOfHope]

8. My pregnant sister in law

Who was not yet married to my brother didn't have her contract renewed, and she taught public school. Actually, she and my brother taught in the same district and neither had their contract renewed, due to the pregnancy.

Of course when my brother interviewed for this position, they also told him "that if you want to buy beer or liquor, please do it in another community so students don't see you." :rolleyes

[wicket]

11. that's terrible!

I smell a lawsuit. God, this really pisses me off! :grr:

[raccoon]

20. dadsblacksheet, this was a PUBLIC school?

What state is it where this happened to your SIL?

[DemBones DemBones]

24. Sure, "moral turpitude" is grounds for dismissal from public school

and college teaching positions. It's stipulated in contracts and can obviously mean many things.

[autorank]

3. Well thats damn Xtian of them...isn't this an anti-fetus act!

[Hekate]

4. It's a private religious school: they make the rules

Teachers undoubtedly have to sign a pledge that they will abide by whatever the school says they must. Parents, too.

As long as they're not taking tax money, they have the right -- oh, wait ... now what? (insert eyeroll)

Hekate

[ret5hd]

6. i thought jeebus made their rules...

just sayin'. :eyes:

[bleedingheart]

10. The rules part isn't the problem; it's that christian forgiveness that

they forgot about.

[chemenger]

12. If I recall the Gospels correctly

Jesus enjoyed his wine and, in fact, was something of a party animal. He liked people (especially the 'less reputable' people) and was always being invited to parties and dinners. If fact he did say that people should party and be happy while He walked among us because there would be plenty of time after He was gone for crying.

The problem with these fundies is that they conveniently forget the Gospels preferring instead to build their belief system on the fire and brimstone of the Old Testament and the 'my way or the highway' prudishness of the Apostle Paul.

[Walt Starr]

14. That's all well and good, but she was fired because she got pregnant

and that, my friend, violates federal labor laws. The school doesn't have a leg to stand on in this one.

[Bunny]

18. Private school , Walt.

They can do pretty much whatever they want.

[Walt Starr]

26. Not in this case

Pregnant women are a protected class.

You cannot fire a woman for getting pregnant.

[Bunny]

27. Well, first off, she wasn't fired. Her contract was not renewed.

There is a difference. And secondly, she was fired for having premarital sex, not for being pregnant. Premarital sex is not a protected class.

[ucmike]

19. not rehired is different than fired, as far as teachers go

my bro and sis are teachers, one public, one private. both schools just had a sweep of "not re-hireds" for next year.

[DemBones DemBones]

23. Yes, unless your system has tenure, and you have earned tenure,

you work on one-year contracts and the board does NOT have to tell you why your contract is not being renewed for the next year.

[PittPoliSci]

5. so she's getting paid for not working?

shit!

i'd love that, even though it violates everything i stand for...

...except my laziness.

[Cerridwen]

7. I love when they do this - wasn't Mary almost stoned to death

because she became pregnant with Jesus before she married Joseph? Some of the townspeople were reluctant to buy the "I'm pregnant by God" story. Do I have the story correct?

How do they know for sure this isn't another immaculate conception? Oh yeah, modern science. Wait! Science? Religious belief?

Oh, nevermind.

BTW, "I love when they do this" was said with :sarcasm:

I've read translations of early church documents, circa early Roman period, in which the then church leaders spoke disgustedly of pregnant women, pregnancy and child birth. Seems some of that disgust has permeated church doctrine down through time.

Nope, this isn't an attack on Christians or Christianity; it's just an observation about how some men's personal prejudice has infected religious thought.

[DemBones DemBones]

22. Christianity got its fear/disgust for pregnancy, menstruation, etc.,

from Judaism, which provided for ritual baths to make a woman clean again after menstruation, after childbirth, something Orthodox Jews still do (though perhaps not all Orthodox Jews.) But Judaism wasn't alone in its feelings about women's bodies, either. Muslim women are not to touch a man they're not married to (or a blood relative of) and that includes shaking hands. Some Muslims are required to cover their hair and/or faces (or entire bodies) when they leave their home.

Women have great power -- only women can give birth -- and men have both feared and adored that power.

As a woman, I don't resent the men of long ago who had these fears, only today's men who think women are not able to do most of what men can do. Nor do I resent the religious traditions if they are freely observed. Many women prefer to cover their heads as a sign of respect for God and many who wear veils that disguise them like the anonymity it gives them.

I also think schools have a right to govern the moral behavior of their employees because it does impact the students. Public school teachers get fired for pregnancy out of wedlock as well, as another poster has already mentioned. Contracts invariably state you can be fired for "moral turpitude."

[bleedingheart]

9. When people choose to work for "private" "Christian" companies

they should read the fine print.

While I think that it is repulsive that they are shunning her because of the situation she is in, I also think that she should have seen this one coming.

[ComerPerro]

16. I think you are exactly right

[Bunny]

17. Yep. You work with those people, you live by their rules.

It's a private school. If this was a known rule, and she violated it, she took her chances and lost.

I think the school could have been a little more reasonable, especially since she was going to be getting married anyway, but oh well.

Edited to add a link:

http://www.wndu.com/news/052005/news_42033.php

[Bouncy Ball]

13. We have a school board member

(who isn't long for the school board) who wanted to fire a teacher who was single and pregnant. Keep in mind this is a public school system. The rest of the board and the super said NO WAY.

[raccoon]

21. Good for the rest of the board and the super. nt

[Shell Beau]

15. Sounds kind of like the school I went to.

A coach supposedly got fired because he chewed tobacco and went to the casino. It is hypocrisy at its finest.

[Love Bug]

25. I remember the days when any pregnant teacher lost her job

I'm 50 and remember when in elementary school one of the 6th grade teachers lost her job when she became pregant. This was the custom, married or not. I guess they didn't want the kids to speculate where babies came from!

[SnowGoose]

28. I might be a little more familiar with this environment

than the majority of the fine DUers who posted here, as I went to Andrews University in Berrien Springs (the Adventist elementary and high schools are there because of the university).

In the interests of public disclosure, I'm now what would be termed a "Badventist", as the biology classes I took there pretty much convinced me that evolution was right, and this 6,000 year earth thing just wasn't supported by the evidence, which ultimately led me to drop the whole thing. In the ensuing years I have experienced the spectrum of seething, white-hot rage towards the religion to simply feeling sorry for them, because I understand the mindset.

I don't see this as anti-woman, as some of the posters here do. If I had to describe the motivation, I'd say that it reflects a state of being petrified of making a 'scene'. Think of how Garrison Keillor describes the Minnesota Lutherans. These people are very, very quiet for the most part, and don't like to make a fuss.

In grade school, we had a music day, and I brought in a tape of a religious musician named Keith Greene. Think Paul Anka with a little less charisma... yea, I know! Anyhow, when I played it the teacher was genuinely disconcerted, and asked me to turn off the "acid rock" right away.

These people are not quite the rabid fundies you might be thinking. For the most part, they are not mean-spirited. In fact, most of them that I know are frankly scared shitless of the religious right, because they believe that someday the Religionists will take over the government and then try to hunt down and kill all the Adventists for worshiping on Saturday. Yea, ok... but at least it doesn't sound *quite* as crazy now as it did in the eighties, when I came of age.

I'll just say this. If it were a male teacher, and somehow it came out that he had been having sex outside marriage, he'd be just as gone. Hell, in academy (high-school) if you were observed holding hands or standing too close to your 'special friend' you'd be put on "social holiday" (no speaking with members of the opposite gender for a week). Once, I got in trouble for walking on the "girls' sidewalk", if you can believe that shit.

Well, I hope that adds a little context to the discussion.

SnowGoose
Edited for spelling ~yea, I'm a product of SDA education.

[noonwitch]

29. It's a private school with their own rules, she knew that before

I think their policy is extreme, and it certainly doesn't fit into my belief system, but it is their right to fire her if those are the rules of the school.