In Britain, chaplain dismissed after speaking out against LGBT ideology
The chaplain told college students they were free to question the introduction of a new gender policy if it contradicted the principles of the Church of England.
The leadership of Trent College in Britain reported its chaplain, the Rev. Dr. Bernard Randall, to the Prevent counterterrorism program and later dismissed him over a sermon directed against LGBT propaganda, dailymail.co.uk reports.
Chaplain Bernard Randall delivered the sermon in the school chapel of Trent College near Nottingham on June 21, 2019. In it, he told students that they were allowed to disagree with LGBT teaching, especially if they believed it conflicted with the principles of the Church of England.
“You should no longer be told that you must accept LGBT ideology, any more than you should be told that you must support Brexit or that you must be Muslim,” the chaplain said in the sermon, adding that people must treat one another with respect.
According to Dr. Randall, his sermon was prompted by students’ concerns over plans by the organization Educate & Celebrate, headed by Dr. Elly Barnes, to introduce teaching on gender identity and sexual orientation into Trent College’s curriculum.
After deciding that Dr. Randall’s sermon was “harmful to LGBT students,” the school reported the chaplain to the Prevent program.
Police investigated the matter, but said that the 48-year-old Dr. Randall “does not present a counterterrorism risk or a risk of radicalization.”
Despite this, the college administration told Dr. Randall that any future sermons would be subject to prior censorship, and he was later dismissed.
Dr. Randall is now suing for discrimination and unfair dismissal, with his case due to be heard the following month.
“My career and my life have been torn to shreds,” the chaplain said.
As previously reported by the UOJ, a transgender person was elected a Lutheran bishop in the United States for the first time.
