King’s Counsel Gregory Jones has ruled that Archbishop Justin Welby was “plainly wrong” in failing to defend a priest who was barred from preaching for five years after giving a sermon at a private school telling children they could question gender ideology.
In 2021, the Reverend Dr. Bernard Randall, Anglican chaplain of Trent College, was fired from his job and reported to the British government’s anti-terrorism program for telling students it is okay to question the LGBT ideology being taught at the school.
In a June 2019 sermon titled “Competing Ideologies,” Dr. Randall — who previously served as a chaplain for Cambridge University before joining Trent College — responded to students’ queries regarding whether “we have to accept all of this LGBT stuff in a Christian school.”
“Now when ideologies compete, we should not descend into abuse, we should respect the beliefs of others, even where we disagree,” Randall said. “Above all, we need to treat each other with respect, not personal attacks – that’s what loving your neighbor as yourself means.”
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“You should no more be told you have to accept LGBT ideology than you should be told you must be in favor of Brexit or must be Muslim — to both of which I’m sure most of you would quite rightly object,” he declared.
Trent College had invited the educational charity “Educate and Celebrate” to their campus in 2018, in order to make their school more LGBT-friendly. The head of Educate and Celebrate, Dr. Elly Barnes, had openly stated that the purpose of the charity is to “completely smash heteronormativity, that’s what we want to do.”
On Tuesday, the Telegraph noted that Dr. Randall remains barred from preaching “after a decision by the Bishop of Derby, the Right Reverend Libby Lane, the church’s first female bishop.”
Dr. Randall has been unable to get another job because Bishop Lane has refused to grant him a license or a permission to officiate without going through a risk assessment. Lane’s safeguarding team had ruled that Randall could pose a risk of harm to children because of his position on LGBT issues.
His sermon raised concerns about how he “would speak to and support someone who came to him if they were struggling with their sexuality,” the team concluded.
Reviewing Randall’s case on behalf of the Anglican clergy discipline tribunal, Gregory Jones said the case was “egregious” and the Church’s “error gross” in dealing with the priest.
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Randall had filed an official complaint on the basis of flawed proceedings, asserting that Bishop Lane “discriminated against me on the grounds of my orthodox beliefs on gender and sexual orientation.”
Archbishop Welby blocked the case, however, declaring that while there were “lessons in this case,” there was “insufficient substance” for a case against Bishop Lane personally.
The refusal by the Most Reverend Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, to allow Dr. Randall to bring a misconduct case against Bishop Lane, was “plainly wrong,” the King’s Counsel said, adding that the archbishop had “misunderstood the scope of his powers.”
Given that the sermon was not in conflict with the Church’s doctrine, any finding that Dr. Randall would “pose a risk of harm to young children” would need to be carefully explained, he noted.
The archbishop “does not identify where can be found the reasons and evidence base justifying the conclusion that there were sufficient safeguarding concerns” which could justify refusing a license, he said.
Dr. Randall said that safeguarding had been “weaponized” as a political tool against a theological position which is wholly consistent with the Church’s doctrine.
“The problems run far deeper than my own case,” he told the Telegraph. “A Church which can turn against its own teaching is deeply unhealthy.”
Randall said it seemed as if “the archbishop’s knee-jerk reaction was to protect a senior colleague, rather than to seek justice or reconciliation.”
