Blessed are the TERFs

A school chaplain who told children to “make up their own mind” about trans ideology has been awarded a £20,000 settlement, bringing seven years in the legal wilderness to an end.

In 2019 the Reverend Dr Bernard Randall preached a sermon to pupils at Trent College in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, after the school invited the now defunct gender activist group Educate and Celebrate to discuss how to “smash heteronormativity”.

Randall’s response was hardly fire and brimstone. He preached a Christian message of tolerance and respect, urging pupils to think for themselves and disagree without abuse. Yet the school dismissed him, referred him to the anti-terrorism watchdog Prevent and he was blacklisted as a “safeguarding risk” by the Church of England.

In July, Randall finally won his case for unfair dismissal, lifting his ban on preaching in church and working in schools.

On Wednesday, details of the settlement emerged, with Trent College ordered to pay him around £20,000 in costs.

Speaking to the BBC, Randall said he was not entirely satisfied because “when you don’t get an outcome in a court, you don’t feel like you’ve got full justice”.

“On the other hand, it’s a mutually acceptable agreement that we’ve reached,” he added.

Randall’s settlement follows a lengthy legal process. His original claims for unfair dismissal, harassment and victimisation were unanimously rejected by an employment tribunal in 2022. But the case was referred back after Jed Purkis, a lay member of the original panel, was found to have posted anti-Christian material on social media.

Purkis had suggested that the collective noun for Conservatives should be a “tumour of Tories” and declared that “only atheists should be allowed to run for office”. The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office found that his comments amounted to misconduct.

Those views stand in stark contrast to Randall’s sermon, in which he urged that ideological disagreements “should not descend into abuse” and that pupils “should respect the beliefs of others, even where we disagree”.

In a statement shared by Christian Concern, which supported his case, Dr Randall said he was relieved the ordeal had ended, but warned that it had “revealed the extent of the corruption within the Church, our schools and in the judiciary, and should deeply concern us all”.

Though his case against Trent College has now concluded, Randall said Church officials had still failed to explain why he had been deemed a safeguarding risk and shut out of ministry.

“Seven years have been taken from me for doing my duty as a CofE chaplain in a school with a CofE ethos,” he said. “I encouraged pupils to think, to debate, and to love their neighbours whatever they believed. No minister, teacher or chaplain should be punished for upholding Christian teaching in a Christian setting.”

The Diocese of Derby has not publicly apologised. In a statement to the BBC, a spokesperson said: “We continue to support Dr Randall as we have throughout, and wish him well for the future. We won’t be making any further comment on his case now that he has reached a settlement with his employer, Trent College.”

Dr Randall also defended the right to believe that there are two sexes, that sex is immutable and that men and women differ biologically.

Which of Randall’s Christian beliefs were deemed a threat to children’s safety remains a mystery, known only to the Church.