Sunday 4 September 2022 12:13 AM You are a danger to children, CoE tells chaplain who said pupils could disagree ... trends now
A school chaplain claims he was ‘betrayed’ by the Church of England after it branded him a safeguarding risk to children for giving a sermon on identity politics.
The Reverend Dr Bernard Randall, 49, won widespread public support last year when The Mail on Sunday revealed that he was sacked by a fee-paying school and reported to terrorism watchdogs for defending pupils’ rights to question the introduction of new LGBT policies.
Dr Randall said that he expected support from his diocese, run by the Bishop of Derby, the Rt Rev Libby Lane, especially as his sermon accurately presented the Church of England’s teachings.
But to his profound dismay, he reveals today that the diocese launched its own investigation, conducting a risk assessment which concluded that he posed a ‘moderate’ risk, and might cause children ‘anxiety’ if they came to him with ‘a sexuality or relationship’ issue.
Reverend Dr Bernard Randall (pictured), 49, won widespread public support last year when he was sacked by a fee-paying school and reported to terrorism watchdogs for defending pupils’ rights to question the introduction of new LGBT policies
Dr Randall, an Oxford graduate whose life and career are now in ruins, says that the assessment left him devastated: ‘When you get ordained you put heart and soul into the Church. It’s woven into your DNA and then someone reaches inside you, into your soul, and rips out your DNA.
‘While this has never made me think I’m not going to be a Christian, it has made me question the state of the Church and seriously doubt my place in it. Due to loyalty, I haven’t spoken out until now about the Church’s role. I held back because I thought the diocese might see sense, but it hasn’t.’
This week Dr Randall, a former chaplain of Christ’s College, Cambridge, will argue at an employment tribunal that Trent College near Nottingham unfairly sacked him because of his religious and philosophical beliefs.
He is also taking legal action against the bishop. Court documents claim that he was ‘subjected to less favourable treatment on the grounds of his beliefs. He would not have been treated in this way if he had been approving of same sex marriage and transgender beliefs’.
His sermon outlined the Anglican Church’s view of marriage as being between a man and a woman and was delivered after students questioned the school’s new policy on sexual-orientation diversity.
Dr Randall said that he expected support from his diocese, run by the Bishop of Derby, the Rt Rev Libby Lane (pictured), especially as his sermon accurately presented the Church of England’s teachings
Campaigners called Dr Randall’s dismissal ‘scandalous’ and said schools should teach children ‘how to think, not what to think’.
At one stage during the investigation by diocesan officials into Dr Randall, they discussed the possibility that staff at Derby cathedral, where he occasionally conducted services, might give evidence on his behalf.
One email included the vaguely sinister sentence: ‘It was agreed that involvement of cathedral staff in the tribunal was a matter for them but may have implications for their association to the cathedral.’
Earlier, after deciding that Dr Randall’s sermon was ‘harmful to LGBT’ students, the school flagged him to Prevent, a government proramme which normally identifies those at risk of radicalisation.
Police investigated but said he posed ‘no counter terrorism risk, or risk of radicalisation’. Disturbingly, Dr Randall claimed the school later told him that any future sermons would be censored in advance. He also claimed that he was warned his chapel services would be monitored ‘to ensure... requirements are met’.
Trent College has a ‘Christian ethos’ and Dr Randall was appointed in 2015 to provide pastoral care, share the Christian faith and lead services in the school chapel.
But he says he was increasingly sidelined as the school began implementing LGBT policies from an organisation called Educate & Celebrate, which demands schools adopt a gender-neutral uniform policy and believes children should not refer to each other as ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ to avoid offending transgender pupils.
In his sermon, Dr Randall emphasised that the children were not compelled to ‘accept an ideology they disagree with’.
He says that he was then disciplined and sacked.
Dr Randall alerted the diocese, but to his disappointment received only a
