Summary

We’ve written a letter to the Education Secretary about the shoddy treatment of Dr Bernard Randall, the chaplain who lost his job at a fee-paying CofE school after he preached a sermon urging the pupils to make up their own minds about LGBT issues and not just uncritically accept the prevailing orthodoxy. (The Mail on Sunday covered the story here.) The sermon, which you can read here, was a model of fair-mindedness, reminding the pupils that no one has a monopoly on moral truth, whether it’s traditional Christians or LGBT activists, and stressing how important it is to approach ethical disagreements with humility, tolerance and courtesy. In response, the school reported him to Prevent, the anti-terrorism unit, as if this sermon might have radicalised the students and made them targets for recruitment by far right extremists. We have asked the Rt Hon Gavin Williamson MP if his matter can be investigated by the Department for Education as a matter of urgency.