The church of trans dogma

Religious persecution has made a comeback in the Church of England. This week, it was revealed that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Bishop of Derby, Libby Lane, had repeatedly misused safeguarding processes to prevent a chaplain from returning to his ministry.

The Reverend Dr Bernard Randall didn’t piss in the font or gamble away the collection-plate money. No, he did something far worse in the church’s eyes – he preached traditional Christian views to students at Trent College, a private school in Derbyshire, where he was the chaplain.

In 2019, Randall gave a sermon he titled ‘Competing Ideologies’, during which he reassured his young flock that they ‘are not obliged to accept someone else’s ideology’. In his moderate and well-reasoned speech, he reminded students that they were at liberty to listen to other points of view, whether on religion, Brexit or ‘all this LGBT stuff’, as he put it.

Randall went on to say it was not wrong to think ‘that human beings are indeed male and female’. He also suggested that, according to the Christian church, marriage is between a man and woman and that a dim view is taken of sex outside of wedlock. His words, which until recently would have been considered mainstream fodder for a CofE chaplain, triggered complaints from pupils, parents and staff members. Some even claimed they were nearly left in tears.

Notably, Randall’s sermon was given in response to his school’s embrace of a programme by Educate and Celebrate, a now defunct LGBT educational charity. This was the organisation that boasted of its mission to ‘smash heteronormativity in the classroom’. To this end, it encouraged kids as young as three to read books about questioning their gender. Randall, understandably, called into question whether any of this was in line with church teaching.

Educate and Celebrate brought this bizarre, radical trans activism to classrooms. Yet according to both the Bishop of Derby’s safeguarding staff and Trent College, it was Randall’s views that supposedly put children in danger.

Shortly after he gave his ‘Competing Ideologies’ sermon, Randall was sacked from his position. He was even reported to the government’s anti-terrorism watchdog, Prevent, by the safeguarding lead at Trent College. It was later acknowledged that Randall’s views did not make him a threat to national security.

Following an investigation by the church, Randall was exonerated for the comments he made during his sermon. But the Derby diocese’s safeguarding team, under the watch of Bishop Lane, still stopped Randall from taking any position as a vicar. In 2021, the diocese refused to grant him a licence to officiate without first going through a risk assessment, effectively banning him from preaching.

The diocese safeguarding team claims that the sermon itself was not the reason for this witch-hunt against Randall. Rather, it supposedly raised concerns about how he might ‘support someone who came to him if they were struggling with their sexuality’. But Christian Concern, which took up Randall’s case, maintains that Lane blacklisted him as a ‘risk to children’ because of his traditional Christian beliefs.

At this point, Randall was prepared to turn the other cheek and accept an apology. But when the matter was brought to the attention of Archbishop Welby in 2022, the turbulent priest was thrown to the lions. Welby has repeatedly refused to allow Randall to proceed with a misconduct case against Lane. This week, the Telegraph reported that one of the lead lawyers on the review into Randall’s case described his treatment as ‘plainly wrong’ and ‘egregious’. According to Christian Concern, he has not given a sermon or worked in church ministry since his ordeal began. To date, neither Welby nor Lane has had the humility or grace to apologise.

Senior church leaders have abandoned their parishioners, putting the worship of identity politics above spiritual and moral leadership. Perhaps this desperate pandering to queer idols is a misguided attempt to get more youthful bums on pews. If so, the church has woefully misread the needs of their prospective congregations.

The last thing that most people, especially young people, want right now is yet more radical woke ideology being shoved down their throats. The church has a real opportunity, despite its wet and woolly reputation, to be a genuinely unifying and moderate force. Unfortunately, it’s forgotten what it once stood for. Welby and Lane are now passively following the opinions of the bien pensant, rather than shepherding the flock.

Whether you agree with his views or not, Randall is a man of unshakeable Christian faith. He has been sacrificed by the leaders of his own church to appease the LGBT cult. In this, he is the ultimate modern martyr.

Jo Bartosch is a journalist campaigning for the rights of women and girls.