Chaplain who said pupils could disagree on woke dogma called dangerous

2022-09-04

You are a danger to children, Church of England tells school chaplain who said pupils could disagree with woke dogma: A sinister twist in Rev Bernard Randall’s fight for his career after he was reported to an anti-terror unit by his bosses

Dr Bernard Randall, 49, won widespread public support last year
He defended pupils’ rights to question the introduction of new LGBT policies
However an investigation found that he posed a ‘moderate’ risk, and might cause children ‘anxiety’ if they came to him with ‘a sexuality or relationship’ issue

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 lukewarm response. He hoped that Bishop Lane – the Church of England’s first female bishop – would intervene and ‘at least back me on the theological elements’. But, he claims, ‘she kept her distance. Either she disagrees with the Church’s teaching or it’s just moral cowardice – neither of which are attractive qualities.’

However, documents seen by this newspaper show that there were concerns about the ‘reputational risk’ to the Church.

A church safeguarding officer summoned Dr Randall to a meeting in December 2019. She later wrote he ‘has consistently demonstrated his inability and unwillingness to accept a different viewpoint.

‘Despite his opinion being supported by scripture and elements of canon law it is his apparent opposition to consider or accept a different approach to relationships which is of concern in a 21st-century Church of England. This is a reputational risk to be managed by any parish and diocese to which Rev’d Randall is connected.’

Elsewhere she adds: ‘Specifically, risk was considered for if/when Rev’d Randall might be approached as a person holding a position of trust within the diocese. If presented with a request for support by a vulnerable adult or young person struggling with a sexuality or relationship issue, the response by Rev’d Randall may result in further anxiety for the individual involved due to the manner in which [he] communicates his strong Christian beliefs regarding sexuality and related issues, including the use of canon law and scripture to reinforce his opinion.’

Astonishingly, the officer then goes on to suggest that the Church itself may be a safeguarding risk, writing: ‘Due to some church scripture supporting Rev’d Randall’s views the church itself may also be a risk-factor, to be used to justify Rev’d Randall’s opinions.’

But Dr Randall insists his sermon and views simply reflect Church of England thinking, and was able to demonstrate flaws in the assessment process, chiefly that it should have been independent.

This has now been accepted by the diocese but terms of reference for a new process have yet to be agreed.

‘This wouldn’t have happened ten years ago even,’ Dr Randall says. ‘Safeguarding has crept from making sure that we don’t employ people who present a genuine danger to something much broader. We now live in an age where any kind of inconvenience to someone is not to be tolerated and everybody must be happy all the time. Institutions are now so terrified that someone will say something even moderately challenging.

‘This has caused me untold stress to the point where I recently burst into tears when a priest asked me after a service how I was feeling.’

Andrea Williams, co-founder of Christian Concern and chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: ‘The Church of England’s wholesale misuse of safeguarding to suggest that Bernard is a risk to children is one of them most distasteful and objectionable elements of this extraordinary case.

‘I would love to have seen the Church of England defend Bernard Randall after his moderate and thoughtful sermon upholding the Church’s teaching.

‘I would love to have seen them say he was a faithful minister doing the job he loved and serving the children at Trent College.

‘If they had done that and helped him to keep his position we wouldn’t be where we are today. Instead, the Church of England capitulated to the pressure and wiped their hands of him.

‘Out of loyalty to the Church he has refused to expose how badly he has been treated by them until now. He has hoped against hope that they might come and help him.

‘Bernard Randall is a good man who loves Jesus and loves biblical truth and is passionate about the hope that is found in the gospel for school communities.

‘He is kind, intelligent and not a safeguarding risk to anyone. It is the rise of LGBT ideology and activism within the Church of England that is the risk to good and faithful clergy such as Bernard – and to children who are badly failed by its misleading guidance on transgenderism in schools.

‘It is untenable for the CofE to allow its safeguarding teams to say that the CofE and the Bible is a risk-factor to itself.

‘This is a profoundly upsetting and perverse situation.

‘We continue to stand with Bernard as he prepares for the hearing against his sacking by Trent College this week.

‘The outcome will have huge ramifications for Christian freedoms and freedom of speech in this country.’

The Diocese of Derby said in a statement: ‘Mr Randall has never been an employee of the diocese and the licence he held was as a result of his employment by Trent College. The Bishop of Derby is saddened that Mr Randall is bringing these grievances and has tried to ensure pastoral care for him.

‘Given that he has started legal processes against the Diocese and the Bishop of Derby, it would be inappropriate to comment further.’

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