University course and anti-gay Facebook post.

[Mister M]

Don't blame the religiously pious, blame their God.

 

Why would I blame their God, I'm an atheist.

 

---------- Post added 02-03-2016 at 12:01 ----------

 

This is what the Health and Care Professional Council have in their guidelines relevant to the case:

 

What the HCPC standards say

1.5 You must not discriminate against service users, carers or colleagues by allowing your personal views to affect your professional relationships or the care, treatment or other services that you provide.

1.6 You must challenge colleagues if you think that they have discriminated against, or are discriminating against, service users, carers and colleagues.

2.7 You must use all forms of communication appropriately and responsibly, including social media and networking websites.

9.1 You must make sure that your conduct justifies the public’s trust and confidence in you and your profession.

9.4 You must declare issues that might create conflicts of interest and make sure that they do not influence your judgement.

[sutty27]

Why would I blame their God, I'm an atheist.

 

Try to understand it from their point of view, imagine that you had absolute faith in God and that the Bible or Koran is the word of God.

 

Remember that you and I might be wrong, God might exist and the Bible or Koran might be the words of God.

Would you be willing to go against God and suffer an eternity of hell fire, instead of paradise with your loved ones.

 

 

 

 

This is what the Health and Care Professional Council have in their guidelines relevant to the case:

 

What the HCPC standards say

1.5 You must not discriminate against service users, carers or colleagues by allowing your personal views to affect your professional relationships or the care, treatment or other services that you provide.

1.6 You must challenge colleagues if you think that they have discriminated against, or are discriminating against, service users, carers and colleagues.

2.7 You must use all forms of communication appropriately and responsibly, including social media and networking websites.

9.1 You must make sure that your conduct justifies the public’s trust and confidence in you and your profession.

9.4 You must declare issues that might create conflicts of interest and make sure that they do not influence your judgement.

 

So which of those rules do you think he broke?

 

He didn't discriminate against anyone or allow his personal views to affect his professional relationships. He posted something that he believes to be the truth, a truth that is supported by millions of people all over the world.

I doubt there is a social worker in existence that has the trust of everyone.

 

9.4 That's an interesting rule.

 

Some one with religion would have to be really stupid to declare their faith after this chap got kicked out because of his faith.

Edited March 2, 2016 by sutty27

[Eater Sundae]

Try to understand it from their point of view, imagine that you had absolute faith in God and that the Bible or Koran is the word of God.

 

Remember that you and I might be wrong, God might exist and the Bible or Koran might be the words of God.

Would you be willing to go against God and suffer an eternity of hell fire, instead of paradise with your loved ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So which of those rules do you think he broke?

 

He didn't discriminate against anyone or allow his personal views to affect his professional relationships. He posted something that he believes to be the truth, a truth that is supported by millions of people all over the world.

I doubt there is a social worker in existence that has the trust of everyone.

 

9.4 That's an interesting rule.

 

Some one with religion would have to be really stupid to declare their faith after this chap got kicked out because of his faith.

 

None of us know what he said when he was interviewed.

[sutty27]

None of us know what he said when he was interviewed.

 

Correct, we can only form our opinions on the OP story which says he was expelled from his course after voicing anti-gay marriage opinions on Facebook.

 

The committee said its decision was not based on his views but the act of publicly posting them "may have caused offence to some individuals".

 

It reads to me like it had nothing to do with the interview and everything to do with actively posting something they didn't like.

 

If he had posted support for gay marriage he could have caused offence to some individuals, but I very much doubt he would have been kicked off the course.

 

They can deny that it had nothing to do with his views, but it clearly is everything to do with his views.

[Eater Sundae]

Correct, we can only form our opinions on the OP story which says he was expelled from his course after voicing anti-gay marriage opinions on Facebook.

 

The committee said its decision was not based on his views but the act of publicly posting them "may have caused offence to some individuals".

 

It reads to me like it had nothing to do with the interview and everything to do with actively posting something they didn't like.

 

If he had posted support for gay marriage he could have caused offence to some individuals, but I very much doubt he would have been kicked off the course.

 

They can deny that it had nothing to do with his views, but it clearly is everything to do with his views.

 

Re bib. I think that's a big jump in logic to be certain that it was the case.

 

IMO, he came over very badly when I heard him being interviewed on Radio Sheffield's breakfast programme a few days ago. I don't know how he came over when interviewed by the University, but I wouldn't have been surprised if he had made himself unemployable by his inflexibility.

 

Of course he's every right to be inflexible in his views if they are based on his beliefs, he can't suddenly un-believe them. However, if those beliefs impact on his ability to be even handed with clients, then he is unsuitable for such a career. My opinion based on his interview with Toby Foster was that he had no understanding of his obligations to his clients. The University should be assessing that. If they thought that he would be even handed with clients then there should be no problem in keeping him. But if they didn't have such confidence, then they shouldn't allow him to qualify.

 

It does seem odd that there was no probationary period or similar to allow him to understand what was unsuitable with his behavior and to do something about it. That's seems a bit of a concern, but again, if he showed no intention of flexibility, then maybe there was no point.

 

I think the idea that he was kicked out because he is a Christian is ridiculous. There are many, many social workers who are Christians. Why haven't they all been kicked out?

[sutty27]

Re bib. I think that's a big jump in logic to be certain that it was the case.

 

IMO, he came over very badly when I heard him being interviewed on Radio Sheffield's breakfast programme a few days ago. I don't know how he came over when interviewed by the University, but I wouldn't have been surprised if he had made himself unemployable by his inflexibility.

 

Of course he's every right to be inflexible in his views if they are based on his beliefs, he can't suddenly un-believe them. However, if those beliefs impact on his ability to be even handed with clients, then he is unsuitable for such a career. My opinion based on his interview with Toby Foster was that he had no understanding of his obligations to his clients. The University should be assessing that. If they thought that he would be even handed with clients then there should be no problem in keeping him. But if they didn't have such confidence, then they shouldn't allow him to qualify.

 

It does seem odd that there was no probationary period or similar to allow him to understand what was unsuitable with his behavior and to do something about it. That's seems a bit of a concern, but again, if he showed no intention of flexibility, then maybe there was no point.

 

I think the idea that he was kicked out because he is a Christian is ridiculous. There are many, many social workers who are Christians. Why haven't they all been kicked out?

 

I can't comment on something I didn't hear, I can only express my opinion on what I read in the opening story.

 

How many of those Christian social workers have to keep their beliefs secret out of fear of being sacked for holding beliefs that their posses don't share?

[I1L2T3]

Try to understand it from their point of view, imagine that you had absolute faith in God and that the Bible or Koran is the word of God.

 

Remember that you and I might be wrong, God might exist and the Bible or Koran might be the words of God.

Would you be willing to go against God and suffer an eternity of hell fire, instead of paradise with your loved ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So which of those rules do you think he broke?

 

He didn't discriminate against anyone or allow his personal views to affect his professional relationships. He posted something that he believes to be the truth, a truth that is supported by millions of people all over the world.

I doubt there is a social worker in existence that has the trust of everyone.

 

9.4 That's an interesting rule.

 

Some one with religion would have to be really stupid to declare their faith after this chap got kicked out because of his faith.

 

The faith thing is a red herring. His faith does not provide him with special licence to bend the rules.

 

It does seem however that he let his faith impinge on his professionalism. The flip side is that if he was prepared to adhere to the rules then it should be possible to do his work. There was nothing in his faith that prevented him from sticking to the rules. If he couldn't stick to the rules he was probably in the wrong line of work.

[sutty27]

The faith thing is a red herring. His faith does not provide him with special licence to bend the rules.

 

It does seem however that he let his faith impinge on his professionalism. The flip side is that if he was prepared to adhere to the rules then it should be possible to do his work. There was nothing in his faith that prevented him from sticking to the rules. If he couldn't stick to the rules he was probably in the wrong line of work.

 

There isn't a law which prevents people of faith expressing their beliefs. Throughout history some quite brilliant people have improved our lives and saved lives, despite having some very bizarre beliefs, where do we draw the line, if holding a belief doesn't affect ones ability to do their job then expressing that belief also wouldn't affect their ability to do their job. By all accounts up to the point he expressed his beliefs it was believed by his tutors that he would have made an excellent social worker. If expressing an opinion that some people might find offensive is a good reason not to employ someone as a social worker than we will have no social workers.

 

It also sets a dangerous precedent that states that being qualified to do your job or complete your course is not enough - you must also think the correct way and hold the correct opinions. Obviously the correct way is subjective.

Edited March 2, 2016 by sutty27

[the fonz]

so it wasn't the action of typing something on face book that got him kicked off, it was his beliefs.

 

Yes it was, if he hadn't typed it on facebook and kept his believes to himself he would still be on the course and we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

Having your own beliefs is fair enough but surely you have to be professional enough in your job to not let them prejudice you?

 

If you cant you shouldn't be doing the job because you cant do it effectively.

[sutty27]

Yes it was, if he hadn't typed it on facebook and kept his believes to himself he would still be on the course and we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

Having your own beliefs is fair enough but surely you have to be professional enough in your job to not let them prejudice you?

 

If you cant you shouldn't be doing the job because you cant do it effectively.

So social workers aren't allowed to express anything on face book, if he had typed "I support gay marriage" you think he would still have been kicked off the course.

 

And again he did not prejudice anyone, by all accounts he would have made a very good social worker.