Tomorrow, a Church of England minister, sacked and reported to terrorist watchdog Prevent for a sermon on identity politics and the right to dissent will begin his appeal at the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
Revd Dr. Bernard Randall, 51, took legal action against Trent College in Derbyshire following his dismissal for a sermon he gave in 2019 on the CofE’s own teaching on marriage, in a CofE chapel, in a school with a CofE ethos. Dr. Randall was also blacklisted by the CofE’s Derby Diocese safeguarding team as a “risk to children” for delivering the sermon. A safeguarding report on his conduct concluded that the CofE’s traditional teaching on marriage and sexuality was a safeguarding “risk factor”, and he has not been permitted to deliver a sermon since. At the Employment Appeal Tribunal on Tuesday, Dr. Randall will challenge a shocking Employment Tribunal ruling which upheld his sacking.
According to the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting him, his lawyers will say that the original tribunal ruling failed to recognise Dr. Randall’s right to freedom of religion and expression when delivering the sermon on contested issues on matters of significant public interest.
They will also say that the school and tribunal denied pupils’ free speech right to hear Christian teaching and make up their own minds. They will also challenge the tribunal’s “perverse” finding that the school’s safeguarding team was justified in reporting Dr. Randall to the Government’s terrorist watchdog, Prevent, for the sermon.
The permission to appeal hearing comes following several vindications for Dr. Randall in recent weeks.
Following the Employment Tribunal’s ruling in February 2023, the Headteacher of Trent College, Bill Penty, reported Dr. Randall to the Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA) and the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) with the aim of preventing him from teaching and working with children indefinitely.
The DBS found no evidence of harm or potential harm and concluded that “it would not be appropriate” to take action against Dr. Randall, and the TRA said there “was no case to answer”.
Last week it was also revealed by the Charity Commission that the controversial LGBT charity, Educate and Celebrate (E&C), whose agenda of “smashing heteronormativity” at Trent College led to Dr. Randall giving the sermon, was folding following a series of scandals, including revelations that it lied to hundreds of schools that it was endorsed by Ofsted and its push for the eradication of ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ in schools and for not informing parents if a child declares him or herself as transgender at school.
Ahead of the hearing, Dr. Randall said:
I was and am aghast at how the courts have painted me and my Christian beliefs as the problem when it has now so clearly been exposed that E&C has been the danger to children.
I believe I have experienced a series of terrible injustices, and I am determined for them to be put right. This is another stage on that road.
My case concerns everybody. The gender identity and Queer Theory agenda sowing deep seeds of confusion in young children is now embedded in our schools.
That agenda is anti-Christian and unashamedly aims to stamp out any Christian influence in our schools, and indeed any opposition, dissenting voice or even debate on their dangerous ideology.
I would not be where I am now if E&C had not been invited into Trent College, it is as simple as that. As an ordained CofE minister working as a chaplain in a school with a CofE ethos, it was my duty to encourage debate and help children who were confused by the LGBT teaching to know that there are alternative views and beliefs on these contentious issues.
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